When Life Gives You Lemons
by Fading into the background
Summary: Tired of a lackluster dating scene and the constant gossip of her co-workers, Nanao decides to bite the bullet and have a secret no strings attached relationship with her Taicho. Too bad Shunsui wants so much more. Can he convince her that having a real relationship would be worth the trouble or will their new friends with benefit status completely destroy everything they once had?
1. Fever

She was sick. Not that she would ever say. He could tell by the way she was fidgeting and glancing at the clock. It wouldn't be obvious to most people, but she only ever did those two things when she was feeling uncomfortable and refused to go home early but desperately wanted to leave. That only came about when she was either sick or injured. In this case, he knew she hadn't been injured recently so he was banking on sick.

"Alright, Nanao-chan?" he asked cheerfully as he signed another form from the stack she'd put on his desk. He hadn't even put up too much of a fight when she'd asked him to make his signatures as she'd only asked once and when he'd whined just sort of shrugged him off. Yet another indicator she wasn't feeling well.

"Just fine, sir, keep signing," she snapped halfheartedly. Nanao shifted in her seat again and he saw the small wince it elicited. She must be getting a fever. Nanao tended to get achy when she got a fever.

"You could go home you know," he offered without much hope of it being accepted. "I'll finish these."

She snorted and ignored him completely. The next hour passed in relative silence until the clock struck five. "Well, Taicho, seeing as you did actually manage some work today I think I'll be headed home for the night. Do have a pleasant weekend."

"You know where to find me if you need me," he called happily after her as she made her way to the door. She didn't even bother to glare at him, just walked out and forgot to shut the door. Definitely sick, he thought with a sigh as he signed the last five forms. When she was injured and in pain she never missed an opportunity to glare and she often liked slamming doors. Oh well, there'd be nothing he could do until she got desperate. Even then she usually tried to tough it out, but if the fever got bad enough she'd eventually get to him. Somehow it always just worked out that way.

* * *

"You seem distracted," Jyuushiro commented as the waitress brought them their food.

"Oh, it's nothing," Shunsui said giving him a reassuring smile and bringing his attention back to his friend. "Nanao-chan is sick and I'm waiting on her call, but that's all."

"You think she's that sick?" Jyuushiro asked raising an eyebrow. He was well aware of the little Fukutaicho's propensity for winding up in his friend's care when she was at the end of her rope. Often enough she'd reach that point after the annual division audits. Not that he blamed her for it. Jyuushiro was half convinced Shunsui helped her so little during those times with the express purpose of letting her fall under the weather, just so he could nurse her after the fact.

"Dunno," Shunsui said with a shrug. "But she was showing all the signs. Poor thing. This time I had nothing to do with it. She's probably caught that flu that's going around."

"Let's hope not," Jyuushiro said honestly. "Retsu-san said it's taken half her division out already."

"Is it serious?" Shunsui asked now looking deeply concerned.

"No, most of them are back to work in a couple of days or so, but it doesn't sound like fun," Jyuushiro said with a shrug. "I had to have my last visit at home, because Retsu-san was worried I'd catch it at the 4th."

"Oh yeah?" Shunsui's mood instantly lifted and he raised his eyebrows at him. "You got a home visit? How'd that go?"

"Just like any other visit," Jyuushiro said glaring at him. Shunsui tended to like to tease about any woman in his life, but as Retsu was there the most her presence in his life always induced the most jokes.

"You should make a move," Shunsui advised. "You could at least be friends with benefits. Who wouldn't want to be friends with benefits with such a lovely lady? It'd be the perfect arrangement."

"You're an idiot," Jyuushiro said firmly.

"You know," Shunsui started and then stopped and got a faraway look in his eyes.

"What?"

"That's my cue," Shunsui said standing up from the table.

"Already?" Jyuushiro asked glancing at the clock. "It's only 9 o'clock. She usually holds out to some ungodly hour of the morning." In fact Nanao calling for help was one of the only things that could rouse his old friend out of bed that early.

"Must be the flu," Shunsui said shrugging. "See you later."

That said the man was gone in a flash of shunpo. Jyuushiro sighed looking down at their food. Guess he was footing the bill again.

* * *

Shunsui knocked on the door and didn't get a response. He knocked again to silence before he tried the door. It opened easily and he frowned making a mental note to berate her for not locking it once she was feeling better.

"Nanao-chan?" he called stepping into the dark apartment. He didn't bother with lights as he navigated her hallway. He'd been in the apartment enough to know the general layout. Not that he was often invited back into her bedroom. He nearly tripped over her in the hallway. She gave a groan and he felt himself panic a little bit. Was she even conscious? "Nanao-chan?" he asked squatting down next to her balled up form. "What are you doing in the hallway?"

"Took a bath," she said pitifully. "I was too tired to make it to the bed so I just took a nap here."

He then realized she was wrapped up in a big towel and her hair was damp and tangled on the carpet beneath her. "Well do you want to go to your bed now?"

"Can't, too far," she whined.

"Come on," he said scooping her into his arms. Her skin was hot to the touch and she groaned painfully as he adjusted her. She leaned her wet head against his chest and kept her eyes squeezed shut. "You're going to get sicker lying sopping wet on the floor."

"I feel awful," she admitted quietly.

"I told you to go home earlier," he said shaking his head and pushing her bedroom door open. "We'll get you dressed and take you to the 4th."

"Oh, please no," she begged looking up at him with big watery eyes. The look was doubly hard to defend against since she didn't have her glasses on. "I hate going to the 4th. Please don't make me. I though if I called for you, you could just give me some soup or something and we'd be fine."

"Nanao-chan, you probably have the flu that's going around," he said in a placating tone as he settled her on the bed and glanced around for her sleeping yukuta.

"And does the 4th have a cure?"

He thought it over for a minute and then assumed not since half of the 4th was out with it. "No, I don't think so."

"Then why make me go?" she asked, "Just make me soup and be on your way."

"So you can end up going to the bathroom and wind up sleeping in the hallway again?" he responded with a snort finally locating the piece of clothing and bringing it back to the bed.

"Towel is fine," she said sleepily already curled up into the fetal position again.

"Nanao-chan," he said sweetly. "You either change or I'll take great pleasure in sliding that towel off of you and dressing you myself."

"You wouldn't," she said cracking one eye open to look at him.

He leaned down and kissed her bare shoulder and then flicked his gaze up to meet hers. "I most certainly would and you know it."

"Turn around," she said in a huff, groaning as she pushed herself back up. There was the sound of rustling fabric and a few moments later she said, "Done."

He turned around with a smile. "See, that wasn't so bad."

"I'm exhausted," she cried miserably. "And it hurts all over, and I can't get comfortable, and I'm cold. I hate being sick."

"It'll pass," he comforted with a small chuckle. "Get under the covers." He picked the discarded towel up while she followed instructions and threw it over the back of a chair. When he glanced back she was curled up under the blankets with a stuffed rabbit at her side. Oh, she was well and truly sick if the rabbit had made an appearance. Usually she denied even owning it. He'd won it for her at a festival years and years ago and it only ever saw the light of day when she was too sick to care if he knew she still had it or not. "Mr. Flufferton already, Nanao-chan?"

"Don't judge me," she said sharply. "And her name is not Mr. Flufferton. What a perfectly idiotic name for a rabbit."

"Oh, and what is her name?" He tried to fight the grin that was trying to work its way on to his face if only so she would answer.

"None of your business," she said rolling over. He moved to the bed and ran a kido warmed hand through her damp locks trying to dry them out as much as possible so she didn't get even sicker by sleeping with wet hair.

"What an interesting name for a rabbit to have. You know, you aren't very nice to the man you expect to take care of you," Shunsui commented.

"I don't expect you to take care of me." Nanao glared at him over her blanket-covered shoulder. "I expect you to make me soup, and that isn't crazy at all considering how many times I've had to help you sober up."

"Yare, yare, Nanao-chan," he said smiling. "I'll go make some soup. Get some rest." He retreated to her kitchen and quickly faced his next major dilemma. The woman had nothing in her house. No wonder she got sick, she couldn't possibly be taking care of herself with only water, saltines, and packs of instant ramen in her kitchen. He sighed and made his decision quickly. Hopefully she'd be too ill to yell too loudly. Marching back into her bedroom, he tucked her glasses into a pocket, and went about scooping her up blankets, stuffed rabbit and all.

"What are you doing?" she demanded trying to sound pissed off, but sounding more adorably muddled than anything.

"You have nothing in your house," he said making his way to her front door. "You can't stay here sick." It was a bit of a jumble keeping her up, snagging her keys, and slipping back into his shoes, but he managed.

"Put me back to bed right now," she demanded wiggling half-heartedly.

"I'm going to," he said with a shrug kicking her door shut and locking it quickly. "It just happens to be my bed I'm putting you back into."

"Taicho, this is highly inappropriate," she argued weakly while burying herself into the blankets and his chest to fight off the chill in the air.

"Hang on to Mr. Flufferton," Shunsui said with a chuckle. "Don't want to lose him in the shunpo over."

"Her name is not Mr. Flufferton," Nanao pouted before he shot off and raced over the rooftops forcing her to bury her face in his shoulder to get away from the wind.

"Home sweet home," he sing songed as he moved down his own hallway and back to his room.

"I shouldn't be here," Nanao said shortly.

"You're sick, where else should you be? Besides the 4th which you refuse to go to?" he asked good-naturedly setting her down on his bed and tugging her stolen blankets away from her tiny form.

"You don't bring any other division members back to your house when they're sick," she chastised as she bolted to bury herself under the covers on his bed. He'd figured the cold would drive her into it. He let her get situated before draping her blankets over his own as an extra layer for her.

"None of the other division members send such pitiful reiatsu messages to me when they're sick," he answered pointedly, reminding her that it was her that had begun this whole thing. He hated to do it for fear of discouraging her from doing so in the future, but at the end of the day she was the one who had chosen to invite him into the situation. She got pathetic when she was sick and always ended up calling for him eventually. He really didn't mind taking care of her. In fact he rather enjoyed it when she didn't feel well enough to maintain the professional space between them and instead treated him like the friends they were, but he hated when she decided to pretend it never happened or had been his idea once she was well again.

"There's no one else," she admitted quietly.

"Huh?" He frowned at her as he laid a hand across her forehead to see how bad the fever was getting.

"There's no one else for me to ask for help," Nanao clarified glaring at him. "You don't ask work friends and shopping buddies to help you when you're sick, and I don't have any other kind of friends. I just have you."

He laughed at the clear disgust in her tone. "Well, glad I rate so highly."

"It's your fault too," she sniffed curling further into his pillows. She really did get cranky when she was sick.

"How's that?" He wondered silently if he should run over to the 4th for some kind of tonic for her. She'd probably be all right for the half hour or so it would take.

"Always with those stupid loud flirtations. Everyone thinks we're screwing," she said frankly and he had enough attention in the conversation to be surprised. Nanao generally didn't like to talk about what other people thought of their relationship. "I got seriously asked if I was pregnant the other day, and before that I had a girl ask me if your parents were ok with us never getting married. Do you know that the only dates I've ever been on were with random men in the Rukongai who didn't know who I was? I lost my virginity to some guy in the back of a bar in the 5th district, mainly because by that point everyone in the Seireitei knew I was off limits. Let me tell you it isn't easy living in a barracks full of people who are routinely humping each other when no one will come within five feet of you. It gives you all sorts of self-doubt. So who gives a crap if I'm here when I'm sick? Everyone thinks it's happening anyway regardless of whether or not I take advantage of it."

Shunsui tried to think of something clever to say, but really his brain was still trying to process the idea of Nanao, his morally upstanding Nanao-chan, having sex with a near stranger in the back of some god-awful bar. "Nanao-chan is being rather honest tonight."

"Yeah, well Nanao-chan is tired of getting all sorts of flack for sleeping with her Taicho when she's not even getting the benefits of regular sex," she said with a huff. "I'd honestly decided just to break down and sleep with you, and then I had to go and catch the stupid flu and now I feel like I'm going to die. That's what I get for making such a stupid decision. Karma comes back and slaps me with a fever."

He again grasped for something, anything, to say, but was long stuck on the part where she'd said she'd planned to sleep with him. "I think we ought to take you to the 4th," he said feeling slightly woozy himself.

"If you take me to the 4th, I swear when I'm better I'll burn all your sake," Nanao said simply. "I'm sick and you are taking care of me until I'm better. There's no getting out of it."

"I wasn't trying to get out of it," he argued. "You just have to be really sick to be talking the way you are."

"Oh that's not sickness, that's exhaustion," she said shrugging. "If I'm going to get called a Taicho screwing hussy I might as well not have to sneak into the Rukongai to have some ill thought out one-night stand only to wake up in some seedy hotel and want to go home and shower my skin off. Plus your house is closer to the 8th. It's more convenient for everyone involved. Unless you've finally decided you don't want to have sex with me?"

"Nanao," he started and then wasn't sure where he was going. "We'll talk about this when you feel better."

"When I feel better, I doubt very much I'm going to want to talk," she said simply, and he wasn't sure if it meant because she wouldn't want to revisit the topic or because she'd be putting the plan into action and no talking would be required. He pushed that thought away. "I'm going to go to sleep now."

"Right, didn't you want soup?"

"I feel too sick to eat," she said almost disappearing below the blankets.

"Right," he repeated dumbly. Who could really blame him if his brain wasn't functioning properly? "Sleep tight, let me know if you need anything." Then he flipped off the light and stumbled out of the room. He successfully made it to a chair in the living room before he sat down hard.

He wasn't entirely sure he could process what had just happened. Nanao had just admitted to sleeping with various nameless men. Not that he'd thought she was a blushing virgin, but he hadn't known she was going out to the Rukongai for random hookups. He'd have thought something like that would get back to him. Then again who was going to tell him? If Nanao didn't want to get caught she was intelligent enough to not get caught. And now she wanted to sleep with him. It had to be the fever talking, all of it.

Shunsui spent the next couple hours trying to read unsuccessfully. Most of his thoughts would just roll around to the fact that there were men out there somewhere that had made her feel like trash and he wanted to hurt them all. Shunsui didn't have anything against one-night stands. He'd had plenty of them, but that didn't mean you didn't treat that woman with respect and dignity, and you sure as hell didn't take her to some flea-infested hotel in the lower districts. And what the hell was wrong with the men in the Seireitei? Yes, he flirted with her, yes people assumed they were together, but there wasn't one man brave enough to risk it when she clearly stated they weren't? Cowards. Most people thought he was a lazy drunk anyway, what did they have to fear? If she'd chosen to go to someone else he would have never taken that away from her no matter how much he was attracted to her.

"Taicho?" he heard weakly from down the hall and was on his feet in an instant.

"Nanao-chan?" he asked sticking his head into the room. She was still a lump under all the covers. "What do you need?"

"Nothing, I just feel awful," she whined. "And I can't sleep because every position hurts."

He stepped into the room and felt her forehead. She was burning up. "I'm going to get you some of Jyuu's fever medication I have left over," he said softly. "Then do you want me to read to you?"

"Uh huh," she said pathetically snuggling her face down into the stuffed rabbit. He smiled and left the room again. Whatever else was going on, right now he just needed to make sure she got better. He'd deal with the other surprises she'd just dumped on him after that.

* * *

Shunsui woke up hours later to Nanao struggling fiercely to get out of bed. He must have dozed off next to her while reading. He reached over to help jerk the blankets free from her and made a quick shunpo move to keep her from toppling out of the bed.

"Bathroom," she croaked desperately. He had her there a split second later and tugged her hair back from her face as she heaved. It racked her whole body and he was suddenly seriously doubted his decision not to take her to the 4th. He waited until she was done and then helped her lean back exhausted against the side of the tub. She arched away from it as the cool surface made contact with her skin and he waited a moment to make sure she didn't topple forward. Grabbing a cup he had left in the bathroom he quickly filled it up with water and passed it over to her. She washed it around her mouth before spitting it back out in the toilet, hitting the flusher, and then taking another feeble sip.

"I'm taking you to the 4th."

"Well, I'm not going," she answered simply, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. "I hate being in the 4th, and you said yourself they can't help me."

"We don't know that for a fact."

"They couldn't help Abari-san when he caught this last week so I don't see why they'd have made any advancement now."

"Still they could give you fluids or something," he defended weakly.

She snorted and finally looked up at him. "If I'm going to be sick and miserable, with nothing for it except rest and waiting, I'm going to do it in my own home." She paused and glanced around. "Well your home I suppose. Do you mind if I take a bath? I can't seem to get warm."

He sighed and realized she'd already decided the battle of wills was won in her favor as far as not going to the 4th. "You'll fall asleep and drown. Come on. We'll get you back under the blankets and you'll be fine."

He reached for her and she shifted away subtly. He knew she didn't mean it as an offence though. She hated being touched when she was ill because she got achey and every touch was agony. "I woke up cold before I had to throw up."

"Then I'll get more blankets," he offered.

"I want a hot bath," she complained.

"You just had one a few hours ago," he pointed out.

"It's not about being clean. The hot water always makes me feel better."

"Well, how do you propose we go about doing it then as I'm not letting you take one on your own and drown."

"I am not bathing with you," she said sharply while trying to form a proper glare.

"But Nanao-chan, didn't you so calmly inform me not a few hours ago that you'd planned on sleeping with me anyway?" he teased glad to see she was as prude as ever. Maybe he could write the whole incident off to fever-induced ramblings. In fact they'd be great fodder for teasing her once she was well and back to normal.

"That's different," she said with a shrug. "Sex is just sex. Taking a bath together is different."

He felt his mouth drop open again at her words and tried to collect his thoughts which she so easily sent scattering. "Nanao-chan is more embarrassed to have me sit next to her facing the other way while she's bathing than to sleep with me?"

"Well you didn't exactly imply you wouldn't be in the bath with me," she clarified. "But it's still weird."

"Not weirder than us suddenly having sex," he argued patiently.

"Of course it is," she argued. "With sex you're too busy with the act to really care who it is with and then you can leave once you're done. Bathing together, that's something you do with a lover."

"But you don't have sex with a lover?" he asked cocking his head to the side curiously. Nanao had never been so frank about her ideas on intimate relationships before and he found himself fascinated. She never did cease to surprise him with all those mysterious thoughts running through that big brain of hers. He also wanted to know how much damage her past relationships had inflicted on her. She obviously had not been having the right kind of sex if this was her idea of it.

"It gets messy with a lover." She shivered reminding him she was sick and sitting on the cold tile of his bathroom. "So much time and energy for so little return."

He sighed and helped her to her feet, knowing she wouldn't let him carry her if she could walk all right. She leaned against him heavily though, and he wrapped an arm around her waist. "Bed or bath?" he asked.

"Bed, if you're going to be so weird about the bath," she answered with a soft shrug and he could tell she was almost asleep standing up. She burrowed deeper into his side and he moved with her slowly back to the bed. He tucked her in and climbed into the bed beside her. If she argued it he would leave, but he really wanted to be closer in case she needed something.

He was surprised when he felt her snuggle up to his side and wrap her limbs around him. Her head came to rest on his shoulder and he felt her fever heated body overtake him. Kami, he'd dreamed of that long leg wrapped around his own so many times before. Given he'd never expected there to be a stuffed rabbit squeezed between them. He reached up a hand to stroke her loose hair and she murmured a happy little noise into his shoulder.

"I won't be able to sleep with you, you know."

"Huh?" she asked groggily.

"At least not the way you want," he corrected. "I'll want you as a lover, not as a fuck buddy who will leave the moment the physical need is satiated."

She gave a small huff of laughter. "Don't be such a girl about it. You've had casual sex with loads of people."

"Loads of people who were not you Nanao-chan," he said firmly. "I haven't been joking all these years. I want you in my bed, in my home, in my life."

"You'll settle for sex," she said yawning. "They always do. I don't need you to be noble about it. I'm not some blushing girl. I don't want any of your false promises or love that turns stale."

"You deserve better than a quickie in a disgusting hotel room," he said feeling the anger rise up in him again.

She laughed sleepily. "And that's why you'll do it the way I want it done," she said simply snuggling in tighter. "If only to stop me from going to strangers."

She had him there. He'd rather her in his bed walking away from him each time than out with unknown men who couldn't be counted on to treat her with dignity and respect. He'd give her anything if she only asked; he'd just always hoped she would ask for more.

"Goodnight, Shunsui," she said softly and the sound of his name broke him completely. She'd get what she wanted. He'd just have to convince her that she wanted it all.

* * *

 **A/N: So I'm finally writing a lemon. It was supposed to be a PWP one-shot, but became multi-chapter with the smut a few chapters in because I have no self-control. Hopefully it's not terrible, but I make no guarantees. Let me know what you think!**


	2. Frank Discussions

He'd been awake for an hour, but was content to stay where he was wrapped up in Nanao-chan. Her skin was still warm, but he thought a bit less so than yesterday. She shifted and he felt her hand slide into his yukuta. The petite palm skimmed down over his ribs and then back up his side and left him shivering from the simple touch. She murmured something and buried her face in his neck. Shunsui felt the soft pressure of fever heated lips on his throat and pulled away gently. "Wake up fully, Nanao-chan," he crooned. She must have slept with at least one of the men on a regular basis to have that sort of natural reaction in the morning when waking up curled around a man.

"Hmm," she said struggling the rest of the way into wakefulness. "I feel terrible."

"I did offer to take you to the 4th," he reiterated. "Think you can keep any food down. Maybe some bread?"

"I can try," she said miserably. She shifted away from him on the bed and he got up and went to his kitchen trying to think of other bland food she might be able to keep down. It took him a while to notice the bath water was running.

"Nanao-chan," he said loudly knocking on the bathroom door.

"I'm not going to fall asleep in the tub," she called back sounding annoyed. "Soaking always makes me feel better so leave it alone."

"Talk to me through the door then," he said with a sigh as he settled down in front of it.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes," he said leaning his head back. "I am not explaining to Yama-jii why my Fukutaicho drowned in my bathtub. That would be uncomfortable for everyone involved, and you'd be dead which is unacceptable, so talk."

"About what?" she demanded and he heard the splash of water as she got into the tub.

"Anything," he said. "Whatever you want."

"I don't want to talk about anything," she said stubbornly.

"Fine," he answered. "I'll think of a topic." He thought for a few moments and then asked what was really on his mind. "How many people have you slept with?"

She laughed as he heard her turn the water off. "You answer that first."

"I've lost count," he said honestly frowning. He knew he'd had a count at some point, but it'd drifted away over the years. It really hadn't seemed important the older he'd gotten.

"Maybe I have too," Nanao said and he could hear the smirk in her tone.

"Fine, don't answer."

"Probably around thirty," Nanao replied.

"Total?" he asked surprised. He'd had an entire night to think about all the possible situations she could have gotten herself into over the years and the men she could have had sex with. Even playing her first time on the conservative side she'd still have had about 80 years to get around. He certainly would have had a much higher number than that.

"Yes, it's not like I had a lot of time in my schedule to sneak out to the Rukongai over the years. The 8th kept me busy and I was often collecting you from some awful bar in my evenings," she said with a snort.

"And they were all one night stands?" he asked curiously.

"Not all of them."

"I thought you didn't do relationships?" He wondered when she would stop answering him. Usually when he asked about her love life or personal wants and needs she smacked him with something and told him to get back to work.

"Yeah, well, there were only two, and one was when I was young," Nanao said and he heard the water splash as she moved in the bath.

"And the other?" Shunsui pushed.

"The other," she started and then paused. "The other seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Now you have me wondering what that means."

"It means it ended poorly," she said sharply and he realized the conversation had reached an end.

"What if I stopped flirting with you?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if I stopped flirting with you maybe the men in Seireitei would stop thinking we're together and you could have a normal relationship," he offered although it nearly killed him to do so. He wanted her with him, but if she didn't want that then he wanted her to have more than just a fuck buddy.

Her laugh brought a smile to his face as it always did. "I believe that ship has sailed, sir. You could have sex with another woman in a busy street at lunch break and people would still think I'd take you back. Besides as I already explained, I don't have time for all the messy relationship stuff nor do I have any interest in maintaining it."

"Because of the last man you had a relationship with?"

"It wasn't a relationship," she clarified. "It was just sleeping with the same person multiple times with no real attachments involved." That sounded like a half-truth to his ears, but he didn't push her on it.

"If you've never had a boyfriend how do you know you'd hate it?"

"I just know I would," she said simply. "Besides I've listened to all the sob stories in the SWA and from people writing in to my advice column in the Seireitei Communication and I have no interest in adding to them."

"There are good things too," he argued.

"I'm sure there are," she said dismissively. "I am still not interested."

"You could do a trial with me if you like," he offered.

"Taicho, I am not going to date you," she said firmly.

"You might like it."

"I wouldn't. Besides I don't see why you'd want that. I think you've been in all of one relationship where the woman could actually be considered a girlfriend that lasted longer than a month in the entire time I've known you, and it only lasted two months in the end. Your most stable relationships have always been fuck buddies. Monogamy isn't exactly your thing."

"It could be my thing with the right woman."

"I'm not the right woman. We're complete opposites."

"Expect for our new found mutual appreciation for sex," he teased.

"Which is why you should be fine with a purely physical relationship."

"Nanao-chan, you shouldn't give up on relationships before you've even given them a chance."

"We're going to have to agree to disagree," she said and he could sense her rolling her eyes at him. "I'm getting out."

"You've barely been in there," he commented surprised.

"Well it isn't exactly relaxing with you constantly talking to me."

"And you're getting sleepy," he ventured.

"I am not."

"Uh huh," he said getting to his feet slowly as he heard the water drain.

"I was totally fine," she defended coming out wrapped up in a towel.

"Of course you were," he agreed with a soft grin as she tried to cover a yawn and glared at him. "Back to bed with you."

"I need new night clothes," she said marching down the hallway as stiffly as if she were in full uniform moving through the halls of the 8th instead of in a towel navigating his home. "I should really head back to my own place."

"I'll give you a yukuta," he said trailing behind her and enjoying the view.

"Your yukuta could be wrapped around me four times," she said shooting him a look over her shoulder to reiterate how truly idiotic he must be. Really it just served to turn him on a little.

"Then a western shirt," he offered.

"Fine, as long as it isn't pink," she huffed, although the effect was kind of lost as she shivered.

"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?"

"Just the thought makes my stomach turn," she answered making a face as he rummaged through his closet.

"Here," he said offering a dark red shirt to her. She lifted an eyebrow at him and he grinned. "It's not pink. You didn't say it couldn't be any color at all."

"Fine," she said and snagged it out of his hand. "Turn around."

"I thought you wanted to have sex with me. I don't see why I shouldn't be allowed to see the goods," he joked leering at her.

"Fine," she grumbled and reached for her towel. It dropped right as he spun around to face the other direction. "I thought you wanted to look?"

"I was joking, Nanao-chan."

"You don't want to look?" she asked sounding surprised.

"Of course I do," he said frustrated. "But not like this. There's no romance in this."

"You can't be serious." The disdain her tone made it clear how moronic she thought he was being.

"I am." He continued to look firmly in the other direction. "Now get dressed before you get even more sick." He tensed as he felt her hand reach up and touch his neck and then stroke slowly down over his shoulder. "Nanao-chan."

"Yes?" she asked, her hand stilling on his lower back.

"What are you doing?"

"Testing your limits," she said and he felt her move closer to him.

"Don't." He grabbed the wrist of the hand now trailing down his arm.

She laughed and pressed up against his back fully. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Nanao, knock it off," he said trying to ignore the feeling of her bare warm flesh pressing through his clothes and his desire to turn around and trap her between him and the wall.

"You've been asking for it for years," she said wrapping her other arm around his waist. "And now you're saying no?"

"You have the flu," he said trying to gather his scattered thoughts.

"You're worried you'll catch it?" she asked. "You just spent the night in bed with me. If you're going to get it you already have."

He turned around quickly and pressed her firmly to his front with an arm around her waist. Her eyes widened in surprise and then her mouth quirked up into a self-satisfied smile. He kept his eyes firmly on her face and used his free hand to grab the discarded shirt off the bed behind her.

"What," she started to ask and was cut off as he pulled the shirt around her shoulders.

"When I see you naked for the first time," he said as he grabbed her arm and tried to get it into the sleeve without looking down, "it's going to be when I seduce you and slowly undress you."

"You're an idiot," she said and glared before jamming her other arm into the dangling sleeve and reaching forward to do up the buttons. "A romantic idiot."

"There are worse things I could be," he said trying to ignore the fact that seeing her in nothing but his red button down was almost doing worse things to him than the prospect of seeing her fully naked had been. Sometimes the suggestion of nakedness was more seductive than the actual nudity.

"I'm sure you are all those things as well," she muttered as she turned away from him and crawled back into his bed.

He chuckled at that and pulled the blankets back up over her. "Get some rest and we'll see if you can stomach some food when you wake up."

"Fine, whatever," she said settling down and already starting to fall asleep. He leaned over and kissed her forehead, daring to do so as she seemed to have decided beating him senseless was off the table this weekend. "Idiot," she mumbled as she curled up onto her side and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

"Taicho?" came the pitiful voice from his room.

"Coming Nanao-chan," he called back setting down his sake and getting up from his comfortable spot on the porch in the early afternoon sunlight.

"I can't sleep anymore," she said coming out into his living room.

"Feeling any better?"

"A bit. I'm still achy and cold though," she said tugging on the blanket she'd brought with her to venture out of bed.

"Think you can eat something?"

"Bread maybe," she said shuffling over to the couch. "Will you read to me again?"

"Of course," he said. "Let me grab you some bread and then we'll read whatever you want. Choose a book while I grab the food."

He settled down on the couch a few minutes later and was pleased when she snuggled up against his side. "Nanao-chan you should try to eat," he chastised lightly not really wanting her to move.

"I'm not hungry," she said burrowing deeper into his side.

He sighed and leaned forward to grab the plate of toasted bread without dislodging her from her current position. "Just try. A few bites," he ordered gently passing it over to her.

"Fine." She glared up at him, but still didn't move to distance herself.

"So what are we reading?" he asked reaching for the book next to her on the couch. He watched her discreetly to make sure she was actually trying to get some of the food down.

"Stop being overbearing," she said sharply. "I'm eating."

"Yare, yare, Nanao-chan." He laughed and moved his eyes down to the book he was holding. An eyebrow instantly went up in question. "This is the book you want to read? Are you sure?"

"I didn't want something I'd have to think hard about and your collection is rather limited in that respect," she said with a huff. "Your bookshelf is either scholarly pursuits or romance novels. So yes, this is the book I chose."

"Admit it," he said grinning. "You just wanted to hear me say heaving bosom."

"I'm sure if I wanted to hear that I could have just asked and you would have been happy to comply." Nanao said rolling her eyes and nibbling on the bread. "I tried to pick the one with the most plot," she defended.

"A woman is set to marry a prince she doesn't love before being captured by a good looking pirate. The two of them find they have unstoppable chemistry, and now she must choose between love and her country," Shunsui said summing up the book and grinning. "How much plot do you really think made it into this book?"

"The first one I saw was about a prostitute and the second one was about a prince with a harem. This one seemed to have at least a bit more plot," Nanao growled.

"It's a good one," Shunsui confirmed with a laugh. He started reading and fifteen minutes later began to wonder how long Nanao would actually be able to stay awake. She'd already discarded the food and water he'd brought her. Perhaps he should still take her to the 4th or at least have a healer come over and take a look at her. She'd be angrier than a wet cat if he did, but at least he'd feel more assured.

He was absentmindedly reading through a sex scene as he contemplated Nanao's medical care when she interrupted. "Have you ever done that?" she asked from her nest of blankets at his side.

"Done what?" he asked startled.

"You know," she answered vaguely using her hand to motion towards the book he was reading and he glanced down trying to figure out what she was referencing. He quickly skimmed the past couple lines he'd read out loud and grinned.

"Are you asking me if I've ever performed oral sex on a woman?"

"You don't have to answer," Nanao muttered keeping her face firmly towards the floor.

"I have," he replied calmly and enjoyed the way she shifted embarrassedly at his side. Now this was the Nanao-chan he knew so well, not the one that openly shared her personal life and views on sexuality. "Hasn't one of the men you've slept with ever done it for you?"

"No."

"Not even one of the repeats?" he asked genuinely surprised.

"No," Nanao repeated and then after a moment's pause said, "I wouldn't know how to begin to ask for something like that."

"You haven't been taking the right kind of men to bed if you have to ask," he said watching the back of her bowed head. "Unless you never offered oral either?"

"I've given a blowjob before," Nanao said with contempt in her tone that often came out when she reprimanded him not to treat her like a child.

"I didn't mean offense by asking," he comforted with a small chuckle as he tried to ignore the fantasies currently playing out in his head. "I just believe in fair exchange."

"I can't imagine it's very fun for the man to do."

"Bringing your lover to the brink and tasting them while driving them over the edge? I find it very fun. Do you hate giving blowjobs?" Part of him was still in shock that he was even having this conversation with her. Two days ago he would have happily denied that his Nanao-chan had ever done anything of the sort.

"It's different," she said making a face at him. "Doing it to a woman is different."

He laughed at that. "I suppose my Nanao-chan just doesn't have any bisexual leanings then. Threesomes out of the question?"

"I don't know, do you think Ukitake Taicho would be interested?" she said sending him a quizzical look.

"I could ask," he answered grinning down at her and knowing she'd only asked to get a rise out of him.

"You have?" she sputtered sitting up straighter. "With Ukitake Taicho?"

"No, but I do like to make my Nanao-chan happy."

"But you have slept with men?" she pressed.

"A couple," Shunsui said with a shrug. "It's been a long life and I've always been curious. My preference is women though. Something about all those soft curves and warm places."

"Have you had threesomes?" she asked watching his face closely.

"Twice, but both were with two women," he admitted honestly. Frankly he liked Nanao's sudden candidness and interest. If there was one thing to be said about his Fukutaicho it was that once she made a decision she went through with it. If she'd finally decided she wanted something with him she sure as hell wasn't going to hold back.

"How does that work exactly?"

"You want the mechanics of it?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"On second thought no," she said shaking her head. "And you'd be willing to have one with me and another man?"

"It'd have to be a specific man," Shunsui said thinking it over. "And I'm not saying I wouldn't be jealous. I'd prefer Nanao-chan to myself always, but I wouldn't tell you no if that's what you really wanted."

"But of course you wouldn't mind if it was with another woman," Nanao presumed rolling her eyes.

"As I said, I'd prefer Nanao-chan to myself always. If someone is bringing you pleasure I want it to be me," he said catching her chin and forcing her to meet his eyes. "But I've lived a long time and am a very patient man. If that's what you need to feel comfortable at my side then I'll go along with it. Better than not having Nanao-chan at all."

"You are going to sleep with me when I'm better then," Nanao stated not looking away even when he dropped his hand from her face.

"Yes, Nanao-chan," he answered truthfully. "How could I refuse you anything? But I want you as a lover, not as a convenience, and I'll do whatever it takes to convince you that that's what you want too."

"I don't want a threesome," Nanao said simply ignoring his comments on a possible relationship. "It'd be bothersome having to worry about two people and you being jealous."

"Then it will just be you and me," he agreed warmly.

"Will you," she started then stopped and fidgeted with her blanket. She snuck a glance at the book in his hand and he smiled.

"Like I said," he answered her unasked question. "I believe in equal exchange. I would like nothing more than to taste you. In fact I've often imagined just that when watching you do paperwork."

She flushed a pretty shade of pink and he was glad that despite all her bold talk she wasn't completely jaded against sex. "Why in the world would paperwork make you think of that?" she demanded.

He let out a rumbling laugh and stroked his hand down her back. "You always sit so straight and proper. I like to imagine you sprawled in that office chair losing control under my ministrations. I've had some properly naughty fantasies about you trying to remain rigid with one of our subordinates while I'm secreted under your desk."

Nanao snorted and smacked his arm away from her half-heartedly. "You'd never fit under that desk, and it's hardly appropriate to be doing those kinds of thing in the office."

"It's only wrong if you get caught," he countered grinning. "And we could get you a bigger desk."

"I'm not putting a bigger desk in the division budget just so that you can get your rocks off in front of our subordinates," Nanao said sharply and then added almost casually, "Besides I could still fit under your desk quite comfortably as is."

"Don't think I haven't thought of that either," he admitted unabashedly.

"You wouldn't even pretend to hide what was happening though," she said with a snort. "One of the division members would walk in and you'd happily say your cute Nanao-chan was giving you a blow job under the desk."

"Not if it would prevent you from doing so. I can be discreet when it matters."

"I'm never ever going to do that when there are still other people at the office," she said firmly.

"But you would when they aren't?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

She shrugged. "Well, I've thought it might be a decent motivator for years now."

"You want to trade paperwork for sex?" He was horrified that she would think up something so fiendish.

"It could be fun," she said with a wicked little grin that made his pants suddenly feel restricting. "We could make a game of it. If you stop signing forms I stop too."

"Cruel," he said seriously. "You wouldn't."

"You don't have to play, but that's the only way I'm giving you a blowjob in the office. Your choice."

"Fine, but I have a game in return," he said conjuring up all the fantasies she'd starred in over the years.

"And what's that?" She looked wary and he fought to keep the grin off his face.

"There are these interesting little devices I saw in the living world," he explained. "One in particular is this cute little panty with a remote controlled vibrator in it."

"And what would you want to do with that?"

"I think it'd spice up the weekly strategy meetings to see how long you could last with me in control of the remote."

"I am not doing that."

"It'd be fun," he defended.

"It would not," she argued. "There is nothing fun about coming in front of the entire Gotei 13 elite."

"I wouldn't make you come," he said as if she was simple. "I'd just tease you until you were ready to rip my clothes off right after the meeting."

"Absolutely not," she said again. "Why do all your fantasies include public embarrassment for me?"

"Fine then, I would settle for a late night romp on top of your office desk followed by a second round on top of mine," he offered. He saw the quick acceptance on her face and quietly congratulated himself for starting with the truly outlandish plan and thus getting her to think something she might otherwise have quickly turn down was a good plan.

"Done, on the condition that you don't then proceed to inform the entire division," she negotiated.

"Agreed," he said easily. It wasn't like the majority of the division didn't already think they were doing the same thing anyway.

"All of this happens after hours," she stressed.

"As you wish, Nanao-chan," he complied gallantly.

"No bragging," she said glaring at him.

"Nanao-chan, I want you, not bragging rights," he said truthfully and reached out to trace her cheek with his thumb.

"You won't even tell Ukitake Taicho then?"

He winced. "That will be more difficult. Jyuushiro knows me well Nanao-chan. I'm not sure I could even hide it if I wanted to. He might not know what was up, but he'd know something was."

"Fine," she growled and wedged back closer to his side. "But only if you must, and only Ukitake Taicho, and for kami sake don't tell him near his 3rd seats. Now keep reading, this conversation is getting old."

He let out a small chuckle and picked up where he'd left off although he honestly didn't care what the words said. Shunsui was too busy thinking about all the fantasies he might be allowed to act on soon and how he could convince her that she never wanted another man in her bed and heart other than him for the rest of her life. A chapter later Nanao was asleep again and he settled down where he was on the couch and let his mind drift.

* * *

She groaned as she woke up. Her neck was killing her, which was probably due to spending a lengthy amount of time sleeping awkwardly against her Taicho on the couch. Glancing up at him she realized he'd fallen asleep beside her, the book discarded on a side table. She still didn't feel great, but since she'd just woken up drenched in sweat she had to assume the fever had broken, which meant it would only get better from here. Nanao looked out the window and realized the sun had set again.

Part of her still couldn't believe she'd been as bold as she had been in the past two days. Had she really just discussed sexual favors with her Taicho? Then again it'd been less awkward then she originally presumed it would be, and if they could work out a friends with benefits system it would make her life infinitely easier. She'd never told him no because she wasn't attracted to him, it'd always been that she didn't want the relationship and the gossip. Not that her refusals had stopped anyone from talking anyway.

In fact, that's what had finally pushed her over the edge, nothing big or new, but simply hearing people at it again. She'd left an SWA meeting and then realized she'd forgotten her notebook. She hadn't been very far out so she'd gone back to the meeting room and realized by the time she reached the door that some of the members were still in there gossiping. They did it often enough that she'd been about to walk right in when she'd heard her name and paused.

"Maybe we could hook Ise-san up with him? They might be good together. Harunobu-san is such a nice guy, and Ise-san is so reserved they might work out well."

Matsumoto had snorted and said, "Totally wrong for each other. Besides everyone knows Ise-san is with her Taicho, and you know he's got to have some kinks. Poor Harunobu-kun wouldn't even know what hit him."

"That's not fair, Matsumoto-san," Rukia had argued. "I find Ise-san to be a very capable Fukutaicho. I can't believe you're one of those people saying she slept with her Taicho to get her position."

"Did I say that?" Matsumoto had asked with a laugh. "We all know she deserves her position and got there without sleeping with him. She'd run rings around any of us Fukutaichos in administrative tasks and her kido would give us all a run for our money on the battlefield. Doesn't mean she isn't sleeping with him now. They're like soul mates, destined for one another, nothing else will do. Everyone knows that, regardless of what they think about how she got her rank. If they weren't, she would have transferred ages ago. No one can deal with that much flirtation and harassment without genuinely liking the person doing the flirting."

There had been a general murmur of agreement from the other occupants of the room. "I guess you have a point there. She must care for him," Rukia had conceded. "But that doesn't necessarily mean they are sleeping together either."

"Then Ise-san must be the most sexually frustrated person in the Seireitei next to Omaeda. No one would dare sleep with her without fear of one, getting the clingy virgin and two, Shunsui-kun killing them for defiling his Nanao-chan. Besides even the Soutaicho obviously approves of them being together since he hasn't said anything, which is a feat all on its own. In Ise's defense, why waste your time playing with boys when you have a handsome, sweet, and sexually talented man panting for you? She'd have to be a total idiot to pass that up, and we all know she's not an idiot."

Nanao had decided at that point that she didn't want her notebook, she just wanted to get out of there. Her and the women in the SWA were friends, but not exceptionally close. She'd learned her lesson about getting close to anyone and the pain of losing them from a childhood spent in the Rukongai. Losing Yadomaru Fukutaicho had just compounded the lesson. She never discussed her sex life, and she knew most people assumed she just wasn't having any with anyone besides Kyouraku, especially if rumors about her sleeping with other men weren't spread far and wide around the Seireitei. What bothered her the most though was that no one even thought to try anymore. The entire Seireitei had only left her with one option, even if they didn't think she'd been sleeping with her Taicho from the start. No matter how much she refused him and denied accusations, he already owned her, and screw it all then. If he already owned her she might as well be getting something out of it instead of spending months trying to ignore how much she wanted to get laid until finally she cracked and found some one off guy in the lower districts.

At least her Taicho was more convenient and considerably safer. She'd had to kido blast one man through a wall when he'd tried to drag her down a back alley for god knows what. Besides she'd been spoiled by the ease and, what she thought was, relative safety in her last no strings attached arrangement. She'd actually started to think a relationship might be a possibility. Not that that had worked out well in the end, but she was pretty confident her Taicho didn't have a secret family he was hiding from her.

Nanao pulled herself away from those thoughts and started shifting to get up. She just wanted a quick shower and clean clothes and then to go back to sleep and wake up in the morning when she felt better. Her small movements instantly awakened Kyouraku and she sighed. He'd be difficult to sneak out on after he fell asleep, which she'd employed often and to great success with most men.

"Alright, Nanao-chan?" he asked in a sleepy tone.

"Fine, Taicho," she said. "I just want to pop into the shower and then crawl into bed."

"Shower again?" he asked waking up.

"My fever broke," she said standing up slowly. "I'm covered in sweat, in fact you probably need a shower too."

He glanced down at the wet spot on his side where she'd been curled up against him and laughed. "Want to go together?" he asked wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Sure," she said with a nonchalant shrug she didn't really feel. "Although I don't know how much fun I'll be. I'm still exhausted. I just want to be warm and dry."

"Yare, yare, Nanao-chan," he said pouting. "You're no fun to tease when you just agree."

"Was that the trick all these years?" she asked with a small smile. "I should have made this deal ages ago."

"Agreed," he said watching her movements as she started towards the bathroom. He stood up as well and followed her. "I'll be right outside."

"I'm not going to fall asleep standing up in the shower," she said rolling her eyes.

"You never know," he said shrugging. "And this way if you need me for anything I'll be right there."

"What would I possibly need you for?"

"All those hard to reach spots?" he suggested with a lewd grin.

"Idiot," she muttered before slipping into the bathroom. She showered quickly and wrapped herself up in the towel she'd used earlier. Stepping out of the bathroom she almost ran smack dab into Shunsui's chest.

"I left a new shirt for you on the bed," he said. "I'll be in shortly."

"Thanks." She slid past him and into the bedroom. She changed quickly into the shirt and crawled back into his bed and under the multiple layers of blankets. Ten minutes later she was already dozing as she felt the bed shift. It'd been a while since she'd slept in a bed with another person and she grudgingly admitted it felt nice. The last man she'd been involved with she'd slept with occasionally, but it was generally in between bouts of sex not overnight and never platonically.

"Feeling better?" he asked adjusting under the covers.

"A bit," she murmured. "I'll be much better in the morning."

He hummed an agreement and rolled towards her wrapping an arm around her waist. She thought about slapping him away from her, but decided it just wasn't worth it especially when he curled up closer to her and she was suddenly cocooned in lovely warmth. "Nanao-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you going to go back to your apartment when you feel better?"

"Of course," she answered sleepily.

"Even if I ask you to stay?"

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I like having you here, and would like to have you here when you aren't barfing or feverish," he said simply.

She gave a small laugh and finally looked at him over her shoulder. "You are really not getting this no strings attached thing, are you? Taicho, I am not going to sleep with you if you are going to make it into a big deal."

"Just give it a shot. You might like it," he cajoled.

"I wouldn't. Go to sleep," she said turning away from him again. She'd started thinking maybe a relationship wouldn't be so bad with the last guy she was with. What a mistake that had been. She was pretty sure his wife wouldn't have condoned it. In the end all men were cheaters. What was the point of a long-term relationship other than getting your heart broken?

"I'm just saying you never know until you try," he argued.

"I'm sleeping now," she said and closed her eyes, intent on ignoring him.

"Fine, I'll convince you in the morning," he said with a pout in his voice.

She snorted and snuggled further back into him. He really was incorrigible.

* * *

Nanao woke up feeling like a brand new woman. Still a little groggy, but at least the aches and pains were gone and she actually felt hungry. Speaking of hungry, was that a hand on her stomach? Nanao shifted and the warm hand on her bare skin pulled her closer to the body behind her. She remembered that she'd gone to bed with Shunsui and relaxed for a moment before realizing it was his hand on her bare skin, not on top of the shirt. The pervert had worked his hand up under the shirt while she slept. Shifting a leg she realized that meant he'd bunched the shirt up far past her hips. Thank god she had underwear on at least. Given it shouldn't even matter since she'd dropped her towel in front of him only a little while ago, but something about this seemed much more intimate than just being naked in front of him. He shifted again and the hand trailed from her stomach to her hip as his face nestled into her neck. His warm breath fanned out over her neck and she shivered.

"Kyouraku Taicho," she said firmly as she reached for his hand.

"Hmm?" he asked rousing slightly.

"Time to wake up."

"But I'm having such a lovely dream," he murmured back dragging her in closer and gliding his lips over the crook of her neck.

"Get your wandering hand out from under my shirt," she said as his hand skimmed up her side and dangerously close to her breast.

"Technically it's my shirt, and I thought my hands were allowed to wander now," he said warmly.

"If we were having sex," she answered rolling her eyes and shifting away from him slightly. "Cuddle groping in the morning is off limits. Mainly because I have no intention of ever being here in the morning, but also because it's far too coupley."

He chuckled and she felt it rumble through her body from all their points of contact. "Coupley and cuddle groping are a few things I never thought I'd hear come out of my adorable Nanao-chan's mouth," he said happily. "Although I think I like them both."

"And I don't like either," she said rolling her eyes and pushing his arm away. It went without resistance, but he made sure to drag his fingertips down the length of her body as he pulled it out from under the shirt. A line of goose bumps raised up on her skin in their wake.

"Feeling better then?" he asked smiling at her as she crawled out of the bed.

"Much," she said nodding. "I should be getting home now that I'll be ok. Do you know where my belongings are?"

"Belongings meaning your clothes and Mr. Flufferton?" he asked lazily.

She glared at him. So she occasionally found comfort in a stuffed rabbit when she felt well and truly miserable, it didn't mean he had to remind her of it. She would literally kill him if he ever brought it up in front of anyone else.

"You're really going to shunpo home in a sleeping yukuta with no shoes and a stuffed rabbit?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"I'll just be fast about it," she said trying to ignore the fact that she still didn't feel 100%.

"Hope you don't run into a Taicho," he said with a grin. "It is the weekend after all. Anyone could be out shunpoing around rooftops at this time of day."

She sighed. "I don't know what you think is going to happen if I stay. You aren't going to talk me into dating you, and as I just started feeling better I'm not really interested in sex right now."

"Perhaps I just enjoy the pleasure of your company."

"You are providing me a bag for the rabbit," she said stonily as she got out of bed, "And then I'm bolting home as fast as possible."

"Nanao-chan, let me make you breakfast," he said, "Something plain and then I'll shunpo you home."

"Because being seen carried by you is less mortifying then being in nightclothes and having a stuffed animal," she snorted.

"Marginally," he said with a laugh. "But then again with me shunpoing there are very few people who will have the ability to see us."

"That is if you go at top speeds and don't suddenly get the bright idea to embarrass the crap out of me."

"Taicho's honor," he said grinning. "I'll get you home unseen."

"And what do you want in return?" she asked narrowing her eyes.

"Dinner," he answered without hesitation.

"I'm not much of a cook."

"I'll cook," he said watching her stretch her arms above her head making his shirt raise dangerously high on her thighs. "You'd just have to sit back and enjoy."

"Well, now that's a new one for the man to be saying," she quipped with a smirk.

"You've been sleeping with the wrong men."

"Oh come on," she said rolling her eyes. "You're the laziest man I've ever met."

"Only with work, Nanao-chan," he replied watching her from the bed through half lidded eyes.

"Somehow I doubt that you can be that lazy in one aspect of your life and not in all the others," she said leaning back over the bed to grab the stuffed rabbit.

Shunsui shot out an arm and dragged her back down onto the mattress next to him. "You'd be surprised."

"Maybe the first couple times," she challenged calmly. "Then you'll get lazy again and not feel the need to impress. They all do. Best to keep it the first time since it just goes downhill from there."

Shunsui rolled so she was underneath him and kissed her forehead. "Who treated you so badly to convince you of that?"

"Every man ever," she taunted. "I don't want to date you Taicho."

"Who said it was a dinner date?" he asked. "I just requested dinner."

"Taicho," she said in exasperation.

"Dinner isn't breakfast, Nanao-chan," he argued. "I'm not asking you to stay over. Just come for dinner when you feel well."

"And then?"

"And then whatever happens is up to you?"

"Fine, but if anyone sees us on the way home it's off."

"No one will see us, Nanao-chan," he said happily. "Now do you think you can keep down some toast?" He slipped away from her and whistled happily as he headed towards the kitchen and Nanao tried to restrain herself from strangling him.

It had been her idea after all to start this ridiculous thing, but she really thought she could get him to see the benefits of a sex only relationship. From all accounts he'd had one with Yadomaru-san. It shouldn't be that difficult to apply the same standards to her. They'd fuck and they'd go about living their separate lives. It wasn't supposed to be complicated. She was supposed to call his bluff and he wasn't supposed to want more. She sighed and followed him into the kitchen. She supposed she could wait him out. Eventually he'd get over the newness of the situation and see that he really didn't want to date her at all. She just had to wait him out.

* * *

 **A/N: So sorry for the delay guys! My computer kept turning itself off and had to go for repairs and get its logic board replaced so I couldn't update. Hopefully the length of the chapter gets across my apologies! Thank you, thank you, thank you for the reviews. I'm particularly insecure about this story, so I'm loving any and all feedback :)**


	3. Dinner Dates

**A/N: So the M rating is not a joke from here on out. Fair warning; if you don't like smut you probably want to stop reading now.**

* * *

A week had passed and Nanao hadn't brought up the previous weekend at all. It wouldn't be the first time she'd completely refused to acknowledge he'd taken care of her when she was sick, but he was less willing to let it go this time. She'd not so much as looked at him differently the entire week. He was starting to think he'd been the one with the fever last weekend and he'd imagined the whole entire situation. He'd managed to get her home last Sunday without her being seen, she'd slammed the door in his face, and he'd spent the rest of the day trying to decide what to make her for dinner. Monday rolled around and his uptight Fukutaicho was back in action with no indication that anything had changed between them. He'd made a lewd comment on Wednesday trying to get a rise out of her, and she'd done nothing more than roll her eyes and throw a kido enchantment at him that had blasted him right out the open office door. He'd been left wondering if she'd decided dinner wasn't happening at all.

That's why he'd been shocked when, as she'd left Friday from the office, she'd said in a clipped tone that she'd be over around seven. So there he was putting the final touches on dinner and wondering if he was dreaming when he felt her arrive on his porch. She slid the back door open without knocking and took off her sandals at the door.

"You know I have a front door, right?" he asked with a grin.

"Someone might have seen me there."

"Yes and it looks much less suspicious when you sneak in the back way. No one who sees that will gossip."

"I was discreet," she defended.

"I don't care if you were. I'm just saying if you want to keep it a secret you should act natural. You've come over to my house plenty of times and used the front door. Although I still don't understand why we're keeping it a secret at all."

"It's inappropriate for a Fukutaicho to be having sexual relations with her Taicho," she said primly.

"We haven't had sexual relations yet," he pointed out putting the sushi on to plates.

"Yes, but we're planning on it," Nanao said. "People can sense that."

"With their sex-sensors?" he teased.

"Shut up and let's get this dinner over with," she said glaring at him. "I don't know why we're wasting time on this anyway."

"Always so romantic, Nanao-chan."

"I didn't ask you for romance."

Dinner was weird and forced. They'd had hundreds of meals together over the years and none of them were this awful. Generally they enjoyed each other's company, and conversation flowed easily. Shunsui wasn't sure what to do with the strange new dynamic that was this dinner. No matter how he tried to tease and cajole her into a normal conversation she seemed completely immune and answered him with short abrupt replies. Perhaps this had been a terrible idea after all. He didn't want her running off to strangers, but he didn't want to lose their friendship either. As he quietly took care of the dishes in silence he wondered if there was a way to get them out of this and save both their prides. Not that he cared much about his own, but he knew it'd be important to Nanao-chan.

He nearly dropped the dish in his hand as he felt her press up against his back and her little hands come around his waist.

"Can't that wait till tomorrow?"

He placed the clean plate on the rack and reached for the towel to dry his hands. "We don't have to do this Nanao-chan," he said lightly. "I won't hold you to anything you said with a fever. It's only fair since you've never held me to the things I've said while drunk. Including the time I said I looked better than any other man in a dress. That was clearly the alcohol talking. Byakuya would certainly look better than me in a dress."

"What we didn't have to do was have dinner," she corrected and ignored his attempt to change the subject. "It was weird."

"And this isn't?" he asked turning in her grasp to face her.

She reached a hand up around his neck and dragged his face down to hers. The second her lips touched his he knew he was lost. His hands looped around her waist involuntarily and he dragged her up against him nearly moaning into her mouth when she rocked her hips against his.

"Nanao-chan," he groaned pulling away from her. "We need to talk about this."

"We already did," she said frustrated. "I told you I didn't want to date you. I told you it'd be just sex and you agreed."

"Nanao-chan, I care about you."

"Then make me happy," she said and he nearly died when she pouted up at him. "Why are you making this so difficult?"

"You aren't just some nameless woman."

"Neither was Yadomaru-san, but you managed," she argued.

"Lisa-chan was different."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't," he started and then stopped himself. Telling Nanao he was in love with her was obviously a very bad idea. "Lisa-chan and I weren't friends first. When we met that was our relationship from the start. It's different with you."

"So forget we're friends," she said tugging on his sash. He went to reach for her hands, but one of them slipped up to pull his face down to hers again. He sank into the kiss against his will and found his hands buried in her hair instead of stopping her from trying to undress him. One of her clever little hands slipped up under his shirt and around to his back and the other played along his abdomen making him inhale sharply and finally pull back from the kiss.

"I don't want to forget we're friends." He grasped her hands again to stop their exploration. She snorted in irritation and jerked her hands free.

"You said you could do this," she accused.

"I thought I could," he answered with a frustrated sigh, and physically he wasn't having a problem. He wanted her but, "It's not as easy as I assumed."

"There's nothing that hard about it." She was angry enough that he knew cracking a joke on that one would be a life ender. "Unless you only want a girl when she's refusing you? Is that it? Was that the key all these years? Should we role-play?"

"Nanao-chan, stop."

"How much rejection do you need? Just my normal amount or do you like them kicking and screaming all the way to your bed?"

"Nanao, stop," he said coldly in that Taicho command voice he so rarely used, especially with her. She stopped talking, but he could have kicked himself when he saw the rigid way she was holding herself which was a sure sign she was holding back tears. He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath.

"I'll let myself out." She turned sharply away from him with every intention of heading towards the door.

"Nanao-chan, wait." He caught her gently by the elbow. "Let's start over."

"There doesn't seem to be a point," she said defeated. Her wounded pride kept her facing the door. "You don't want to sleep with me and that's fine. I didn't mean to pressure you, Taicho, or make you feel like you had to. There are other men that will want me, and they're really not dangerous. I can take care of myself. You don't have to force yourself just to protect me. That's not what I meant for you to think. I just thought it might be a good arrangement for both of us. Clearly it's not."

"Don't for a second think I don't want you," he said turning her around to face him. She started to open her mouth and he cut her off. "Friends with benefits is different than no strings attached. I can't do no strings attached. I can't fuck you like a stranger at night and then act like your friend in the morning."

"I don't know how to do it any other way," she said miserably and his heart broke for her. He wasn't letting her walk out of this house and back into those strangers' beds. No one should be allowed to make his Nanao-chan feel this way. He decided to try a different approach.

"Just be you Nanao-chan," he said reaching up to cup her face. "Talk to me."

"About what?"

"About anything. How was the SWA meeting yesterday? You never told me."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Super sexy, we had a pillow fight," she bit out sarcastically.

He rolled his eyes. "Not what I meant, Nanao-chan."

"I don't see how me talking about a weekly meeting that usually devolves into chaos before it's through has anything to do with us having sex."

"Just be normal," he coaxed with a shrug releasing her arm.

"Normal means no sex," she countered.

"I have dessert," he bribed. "It's your favorite ice cream."

"Fine, but I'm leaving afterwards. This is dumb." She crossed her arms and looked pissed off, but at least she no longer looked like she was close to crying.

He smiled and went to dish out the dessert. Angry Nanao-chan he was used to. He brought the bowls over to the table and sat down next to her. "So tell me about the latest SWA money making scheme."

"We don't scheme," she defended. "We fundraise."

"Including taking semi-naked pictures of unwilling Taichos," he goaded.

"They were in public places," she argued. "Most of them anyway. You're allowed to take pictures of people in public places. Besides no one in that meeting said naked. It's not my fault if the girls got a little creative."

"It seems silly to go to all that effort when you could have the women volunteer to take sexy shots and sell a lot more since there are more men than women in the Gotei 13."

"A lot of those men don't want pictures of the ladies," she said with a smirk as she accepted her bowl of ice cream from him and proceeded to smother it in the homemade chocolate sauce he'd put out. Nanao always did have a sweet tooth. He'd learned how to make that chocolate sauce years ago specifically for her when he'd discovered how much she liked it at a potluck dinner the Taichos and Fukutaichos had had where Momo-chan had made it for dessert.

"Touché. Still you'd make good money off it just the same and with a lot less work involved."

"We're supposed to be supporting women not making them sexual objects."

"Fair point. What's the latest fundraiser?"

"Yachiru-san wants a bake sale although I'm guessing it's because she just wants to eat everything. I objected, but was overruled."

"You don't know how to bake."

"I assumed I'd get you to do it," she said with a grin licking her spoon.

"And how were you going to bribe me for that?"

"I figured a week off from one of the classes you have to teach would do the trick," she said with a shrug. "If I really had to bribe you at all. Generally it's just as easy to ask to borrow your kitchen, start trying to bake something and then have you push me out minutes later claiming I'm torturing the ingredients."

"I knew that was a ruse!"

"Never failed," she said with another grin that made him want to kiss her. And why not? Wasn't that why she was here?

He leaned over the corner of the table and caught her mouth with his. It was still sweet from the ice cream and when she gave a startled little gasp he pressed his tongue into her mouth deepening the kiss. After a few indulgent moments she pulled back. Her eyes were dark and pleased and he wanted to kiss her again.

"I'm not done with my ice cream," she said calmly, taking another spoonful. He groaned and turned back to his own. "You know I shouldn't have to bribe you at all. You like to bake."

"Yes, but if you're making money off of it I should be compensated."

"I thought my happiness was compensation enough."

"Of course it is, Nanao-chan."

"Good, then you'll be making brownies and you won't need those classes off."

"Nanao-chan, mean," he whined. "Your happiness is good, but my brownies are the best. They deserve some kind of reward."

"I'm done with my ice cream," she announced.

"Do you want more?"

"Yes," she said and he grinned going to stand up, but her hand on his wrist stopped him. She leaned across the table and kissed his top lip where he'd gotten a smear of ice cream. Then her tongue dragged along his lips asking for entrance and who was he to say no? The kiss deepened and he reached for her waist. She came willingly enough crawling into his lap and he was pretty sure this was heaven. "We can figure something out I'm sure," she said when they finally broke the kiss both breathing hard.

"Huh?"

"For the brownies," she clarified squirming in his lap in the most delicious way. "I'm sure we can figure out some sort of reward." Her face came down to his throat and he nearly groaned as her warm lips marked a trail on his skin there.

"I don't want time off class." His hand pulled the clip out of her hair and let it tumble down around her shoulders. His right hand instantly buried itself in her silky locks as she continued her ministrations on his neck down to his collarbone.

"No?" she asked with a quick nip to his skin.

"No." He used his free hand to support her under her butt as he stood up with her in his arms. She made a pleased little noise and her legs instantly fastened around his waist as his fingers dug into her ass and thigh a little harder to keep her up against him.

"Maybe a bottle of sake?" she teased working one of her hands into the neckline of his shirt and using the other to support herself on his shoulder.

"I have plenty of sake, Nanao-chan." He started towards his bedroom and nearly dropped her when she shifted her hips to rub up against his groin. She was going to make him lose his mind. This might not have been the best of ideas. His general rule of thumb was only to move forward with deals in which he had the upper hand.

"Maybe a kiss?" she asked moving to suck on the juncture between his jaw and his neck. Yep, upper hand officially gone.

He kicked the door open fully to his room and dropped her lightly on the bed although he ended up coming with her since she didn't release her legs. He caught himself over her with his arms trying not to crush her. "I'm pretty sure I can have that without the brownies." Then he leaned forward and kissed her harshly and she didn't protest. In fact her lithe little legs pulled him in tighter until there could be no question that he wanted her. She started shoving at his shirt again and this time he helped her get it off. This he could do, when she was here with him in the moment. He wanted Nanao, not just her body.

"Maybe a day pass that you can claim and I won't bother you about any paperwork," she offered jostling him on to his back and kissing down his chest. Her wicked little tongue whipped out to circle his belly button and he buried his hand in her hair to keep her from going lower.

"I like when you bother me about paperwork because it means you're spending time with me," he said with a laugh. He gave a soft tug on her hair and she came back up to him willingly. "It's the only time of day I'm guaranteed you'll seek me out." He dragged her throat down to his lips and returned the favor. Flipping them over so he was back on top he continued the assault on her throat. He hit cloth as he neared her collarbone and quickly reached for her sash to let the folds of her shirt part. She sucked in a deep breath and his hand worked its way under her shirt to her breast.

"Shunsui," she said harshly and he rewarded her with a caress. She gave a soft cry and arched into his touch as he pinched her nipple lightly.

"Maybe I'd switch you for breakfast?" He pushed her shirt and bra down off her shoulders to bunch around her waist and delighted in the sight of her bare chest. Her breasts rose and fell with her quick breathing and he wanted to do so many things to her at once that he almost couldn't decide where to start.

"Breakfast?" she asked trying to maintain some interest in their flirtation.

"Yes," he said and lowered his head to take a nipple into his mouth. He sucked on it and she gasped. "I'd trade you brownies for breakfast," he said when he released her.

"I'm awful at cooking." She reached down between them and fumbled with his sash. "Including breakfast."

He shifted away from her hands and switched to the other breast and she squirmed against him again in the most delicious way. He was going to lose control of this situation if she kept that up. His head lifted and he sank his hands into her pants dragging them down her hips. She raised up quickly to help him get them off. "I didn't mean for you to cook," he said around kissing her down to her abdomen. "I meant you'd owe me a breakfast. You'd have to stay and have breakfast with me."

She laughed huskily and he sucked on her hipbone. She dug her hand into his hair and held him there. "You really aren't going to give up on this dating thing are you?"

"It's just breakfast," he mumbled around her skin. "Say yes."

"It's going to be an awful lot of brownies." She sat up to pull her tangled shirt and bra off the rest of the way while he watched from the vicinity of her lap.

"I'll make all the brownies you want," he admitted as he slipped his hand into the waistband of her lacey black underwear. "Just stay for breakfast."

"Pick something else."

He slipped a finger further down and touched her slick folds. She cried out, let herself fall back again, and rocked against him. "Nanao-chan, you're so wet." He felt himself get harder at just the feeling of how worked up she was.

"You keep playing games," she complained.

"Say yes." He pressed a finger into her and then another before curling them in a come hither move that had her panting and tossing her head to the side.

"Shunsui," she whined. He stilled his fingers and she ground down on them trying to get some friction. "Please."

"Say yes."

She thrust down on him again and he grinned pulling his fingers out from her center. She whimpered and he wanted to touch her again instantly but restrained himself.

"Yes, ok?" she demanded. "Yes, just don't stop."

He smiled and leaned down to kiss her once more. As their lips met he reinserted his fingers into her and she cried out into his mouth. His thumb flitted over her clit and she shuddered. "Come for me, Nanao-chan." His mouth traveled down to her breast as his hand worked her. Her thrusting hips made him want to crawl up her and fuck her, but he wanted to see her come as many times as possible tonight. He increased the pressure on her clit and she started saying his name like a litany. Right when she was on the edge of coming he pulled out of her and she groaned in frustration.

"What are you doing?"

"Finishing dessert. I thought you wanted me to after all." He grinned as she blushed a pretty shade of pink and he tugged her underwear down and off swiftly. He pulled her legs further apart before she had time to protest and his tongue licked up her folds until it made contact with the small bundle of nerves that made her make a noise near a shriek. Her hips jerked up and he had to hold her still to slip his tongue into her further.

"Please don't stop," she begged, and he was pretty sure he couldn't even if he wanted to. She was delicious and the noises she was making only urged him on. He moved back up to her clit sucking it into his mouth and thrusting two fingers as deep into her as they would go. She cried out and her inner walls clamped down on his fingers so hard he thought he might lose circulation.

She was panting harshly as she came back from her orgasm and he grinned as he licked and kissed the inside of her thigh. "Nanao-chan tastes good."

"That," she said dreamily, "is a new requirement for any man who takes me to bed."

He gave a huff and bit her thigh lightly. "Fair warning that I am exceptionally good at that. Other men probably won't live up to the standard I have set."

She smiled and arched her back in a languid stretch that had him panting for her all over again. "You're wearing by far too many clothes." He pulled back from her just long enough to pull his loosened sash completely free and let his pants pool on the floor.

"Better?"

She gave him a nod and let her eyes peruse his revealed flesh, lingering on his erect penis. "Of course you're not wearing anything underneath. Want me to return the favor?"

"Nanao, just the thought of your mouth on me makes me want to come, but I think I'll save that particular treat for later if you don't mind."

"As long as we're not stopping."

"I'm not sure I'll ever be able to stop with you," he said honestly. He crawled back over her and on to the bed. His lips trailed up her throat and he reached her mouth and kissed her thoroughly. She arched underneath him and he felt her wetness drag along his erection. His hand grazed down her body as they kissed and he slipped his fingers inside her again making her gasp into his mouth. Her hand came up and closed around his cock giving him a swift tug. His hips rocked forward involuntarily into her hand and he released her from the kiss to lick at her throat and down to her chest. She started to stroke him faster and he matched her pace with his own fingers in her core.

"Shunsui, please," she panted as her free hand dug into his back and tried to pull him down closer on top of her.

"Please what?"

"More. I want you inside me."

He was sure he was dreaming. How many times had he fantasized about her saying just that to him? Well if he was dreaming he certainly wasn't going to take the chance that he'd wake up before giving her what she wanted. He pushed into her with his fingers one last time before repositioning himself so the tip of his penis just touched her soaked opening. She tried to press forward on to him and he shifted back to keep them just barely touching.

"Stop teasing."

"Savor the moment," he countered half-heartedly.

"Now, or I take back breakfast."

He chuckled. "Useless threat. You already agreed to breakfast in exchange for brownies. This is independent of that negotiation."

"You're really going to make me negotiate for this?"

"You started it," he said, but he honestly wasn't sure how long he could keep up the pretense of this game. He wanted to plunge into her so badly it physically hurt to be holding himself back like this.

"Just tell me what you want." She brought her legs up with her knees next to his waist and he could barely concentrate as his tip slipped a little deeper into her, the head encased by warm wet flesh.

"Lunch. Might as well get every meal."

"Fine, whatever, just stop stalling." She didn't need to tell him twice. He thrust down into her and she gave a soft whimper when he buried himself in her completely. She was so hot, and wet, and tight. They both paused for a moment wrapped up in each other and he buried his face in her flushed neck. "You're perfect."

He laughed into her throat. "Now that's the first time you've ever said that about me."

"Yeah, well you were never perfect in any aspect before. Now I found one part of you that is."

He growled into her neck at that and pulled back to drive into her harshly. She cried out and started moving her hips encouraging him. He moved his mouth to her breast and set a demanding pace. She matched him and he rocked forward so he was stimulating her clit with every movement. A series of yeses escaped her mouth and he felt her starting to tighten up around him. He gave a hard thrust and bit down on her breast flicking his eyes up to watch as she came. Nanao's eyes slid shut and her mouth dropped open as she cried out and her walls fisted him so hard he had no choice but to come with her. Shunsui spilled himself inside her with a groan and panted into her throat as his orgasm shook him.

He finally worried about most of his weight lying on top of her and went to shift off, but she brought her arms up around his back and stopped him.

"Just wait, just for a moment," she said and he settled back down on her although he readjusted his weight so less of him was on top of her. He kissed her shoulder and dragged his hand down to her hip. Nanao sighed and finally let her hands drop from his back freeing him to roll off of her. He pulled out of her slowly and she shuddered underneath him.

"That was fantastic, Nanao-chan." Fantastic didn't really do it justice, but words escaped him right now. He hadn't had sex this satiating in years if ever at all. Kami, he wanted her again.

"It wasn't bad."

He laughed at that and lifted himself up on one arm to lean over her. He didn't think he'd ever get tired of looking at her naked or seeing that satisfied look on her face. Her thighs were slick with her own juices and his semen as it leaked out of her. He trailed a finger through it and she squirmed.

"I didn't even ask about protection," he said quietly. "I'm sorry. I should have asked. I wasn't thinking straight."

She smirked at that. "If you were thinking straight I was doing something wrong. I'm on the pill, and I pulled your medical records to make sure you were clean before I approached you."

He lifted an eyebrow at that. "I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to do that."

"You'd be surprised what I can get away with since everyone knows I take care of every aspect of your life. I didn't see any reason to even bring up the subject if you had some sort of STI that would make the whole thing pointless."

"Nanao-chan is efficient when she makes a decision."

She smirked and slipped away from his trailing hands. Sitting up on the edge of the bed she started looking around the room and reaching for clothes.

"What are you doing?"

"Leaving," she said slipping off the bed. He enjoyed the view as she bent over to pick up her bra.

"You can't leave yet."

"Taicho, we've already had this conversation. We're not dating. I'm not going to sleep here, and we're certainly not going to cuddle. As for breakfast I didn't promise when that breakfast would occur."

He got up from the bed and pressed against her back as she stood from retrieving her pants. "I wasn't really thinking of sleeping or cuddling, and I don't care when you take me up on breakfast as long as you do sometime." He rubbed his hardening cock between her thighs and she shivered. "But I must admit I liked 'Shunsui' better than 'Taicho'."

"You're hard again so quickly?"

"I have some lovely inspiration," he said reaching a hand around to stroke down her body. His fingers stopped to play at her center again and she bucked back into him. She let her head fall back against his shoulder and gasped when he used his fingers to spread her open and thrust his dick up into her well lubricated slit from behind. She squeezed around him once and he felt himself get harder. He started a slow pace and she rocked back into him as they stood in the middle of his room. The clothes slipped from her fingers and he shuffled them both forward guiding her hands till she was braced against the wall. "I'm not close to done tonight, sweetheart."

She threw him a smile over her shoulder and pushed back into him hard causing him to groan. He placed his hands over hers on the wall lacing his fingers through hers before pulling out of her almost completely and slamming back into her so roughly she went up on her tip toes and cried out. For a split second he panicked as he thought he'd been too harsh with her, but then she was bucking back into him so desperately it demanded he do it again. They set a punishing pace and her moans were music to his ears. He pressed into her harder and faster and she matched him each time. His right hand snaked down her body and touched her clit sending her flying over the edge. She cried out and spasmed around him and he supported her as the orgasm made her knees weak.

When she settled down he started a slow gentle pace rocking in and out of her. She moaned his name and that was all it took to push him over the edge again. They stood there leaning against the wall for a few moments trying to catch their breaths. He pulled back from her, but she followed leaning heavily against him. Shunsui grinned and scooped her up in his arms making his way back to the bed.

"Maybe we rest? Just for a few moments?"

"Just until I can stand again," she agreed. "And then I'm leaving."

"Of course, sweetheart." He swiped a few tissues from his side table doing his best to clean their mixed juices off her inner thighs before tucking her in to the bed. He gave himself a similar quick cleaning and then climbed into the other side, turning off the side table lamp as he went.

"You don't need to turn off the light," she mumbled sleepily. "I'm leaving in a few minutes."

He leaned over and kissed the back of her bare shoulder. "Just flip it back on when you're ready to go."

"I will. Stay on your side of the bed."

"Of course, Nanao-chan," he said with a chuckle. He had no plans of letting her go home before he ravished her at least several more times. He could definitely live with this deal.

* * *

 **A/N: Well there was my first real go at really writing smut, hopefully it wasn't terrible as most of the rest of this story contains it as well. Let me know what you think…**


	4. Breakfast Games

Nanao woke up feeling content. She didn't think she'd slept this well in a long time. Usually stressing about the office or some task she needed to complete had her tossing and turning and waking up early. The sunlight filtering through the window told her it was much later than her normal waking hour.

Shifting to get up she found she was tangled up in her bed partner. She sighed. He really was impossible. She'd woken up one time earlier in the night only to discover Shunsui already had his head buried between her legs with her on the edge of waking and an orgasm. How he'd known she was going to wake up and try to leave again was beyond her, but she couldn't argue with the end result. They'd had their way with each other again until exhaustion took them under once more. Nanao squirmed slightly and pressed her thighs together just thinking about it. He truly was good at it, especially eating a girl out. How she'd gone her whole life without that she wasn't sure, but she planned on using his enthusiasm for it often in the future. However, she really needed to be more careful about staying over. He'd get the wrong idea and think he was getting his way.

She tried to subtly shift away from him without waking him and smirked when she realized he had his erection snuggled into her backside. She really should be going, but it seemed like a waste to ignore perfectly good morning wood. After all she'd already messed up and stayed the night, why waste the morning now?

Nanao shifted down him and felt him reach for her sleepily before she slipped past his searching hands under the covers and took him into her mouth. She bobbed her head on him twice and then dragged her tongue along a prominent vein in his cock. He groaned and bucked up into her mouth slightly, burying a hand in her hair. She rewarded him by sucking on him hard a few times before running her tongue over his tip and releasing him from her mouth with a wet popping noise.

"Oh god, don't stop," he groaned. She grinned as she got to return some of his torture techniques. Nanao arched away from his hands and glanced down at him as the blankets pooled around her waist only to find him watching her intently with half lidded eyes.

She reached her hand down to grasp him silently and lifted herself up before impaling herself on him. They both gasped and she marveled again at how well he fit inside her. She'd slept with a lot of men who were too small and one man who had barely gotten half his cock in her before she'd had to stop him, but no one had ever been as perfectly sized as Kyouraku. It would have annoyed her if it didn't feel so good. She put her hands on his shoulders and lifted herself up before dropping herself back down on him inch by inch setting a luxurious pace. His hands rose to hold her hips and shift the angle of her movements to deliver maximum pleasure for them both. He really was good at this. No wonder so many women tried to take him to bed. The rumors didn't do him justice. In fact, she was now convinced that half the women had lied about actually having him. One of his hands reached down to caress her clit and she cried out and lost her rhythm for a second before grabbing his wrists and pinning his hands to the bed.

"No touching until I say."

"Come on, Nanao-chan." Even without her glasses on she could see his eyes pleading with her and she ignored it. She'd had years to build up an immunity to that look.

"No. I get to do what I want."

He smiled in the way that said he was indulging her, and she let it slide as she settled back into her rhythm. He matched her and she threw her head back before bringing one of his hands up to her breasts. He took the hint quickly enough and caressed her as she leaned back on her hands and sped up her hips. The hand started to stray downward again and she grabbed it and dragged it back up to her chest. If he touched her clit she'd come too soon and she wanted him to come first. She liked the feeling of him spilling inside her. She'd never let a man come inside her before, never stupid enough to sleep with a stranger without protection, but she was quickly getting addicted to the feel of it. With him she was safe.

He pushed up into her harder and she knew he was close. She squeezed her muscles around him to drag him quicker to the edge and he cursed. His fingers grasped harder around her breast and her hip and she drove down on him roughly letting a small gasp spill from between her lips. He groaned and called out her name, without that ridiculous suffix, as he came inside her. Feeling him come was enough to drive her over the edge too, and she hunched forward on top of him as she rode out the rolling orgasm. His hands came up to rub soothing patterns on her back and she gave in and snuggled down against him.

"This is my new favorite way to wake up."

"Don't get used to it," she mumbled into the skin of his collarbone although she was disappointed to hear her tone lacked real conviction. "I'm never staying over again."

He chuckled and it rumbled through her body in a pleasing sort of way. "Of course, Nanao-chan." One of his hands abandoned her back to slip into her hair. "Despite that, this still remains my favorite way to wake up."

"I should go." Despite her words she didn't move.

"You'll need a shower before you do," he offered. "My shower is big enough for two."

"Who said I want to shower with you?"

"No one. I was just pointing out that my shower is big enough for two and you should enjoy the roomy well-appointed bathroom."

She laughed and smacked his chest sitting back up on top of him. "I'm sure that's exactly what you meant."

He folded his arms behind his head and smiled up at her. "If you want company far be it from me to say no."

She shifted on top of him slightly and felt him twitch inside her where they were still connected. "Do you ever wear out?"

"Although it hurts my male pride to do so, I'll admit I have in the past," he said grinning larger. "But Nanao-chan seems to have a gift for inspiring me to action."

"Too bad the gift doesn't translate to the office," she said sarcastically. She lifted herself up and off of him, and he tried to reach for her but she slipped away and out of the bed.

"It translates to the office as much as it ever could. My last Fukutaicho before you couldn't get any work at all out of me. He was such a drag. Besides if you'd asked for things naked I'm sure you would have gotten everything you ever wanted."

"Even the annual review?" She wandered around and picked up her clothing from the floor. At this point she might as well stay for the breakfast she'd bargained to knock it out of the way. If she didn't he'd just use it as a tactic to get her to stay another night. She was well aware that thought had occurred to him too and was the main reason he hadn't brought it up this morning already. She was on to his games.

"Oh the annual review would have taken some very specific persuasion. Come back to bed, Nanao-chan."

"No, I'm hungry and sticky. I'm taking a shower and then I'll pay off the breakfast I owe you. I'll let you know when I need the brownies." She cast a look back at him and saw him pouting on the edge of the bed. Nanao rolled her eyes. He really was a big child. She should just ignore him. The whole point was to reiterate how much she didn't need him, that this was just a convenience. Screw it, she thought sharply, what could it hurt just this once? "I'd like to get the breakfast over with as quickly as possible so in the interest of time you're welcome to join me in the shower."

He grinned at that and got up from the bed trailing her into the bathroom. She dropped her clothes in a small pile near the door and headed towards the shower. He'd replaced the shower with a modern western shower years ago for convenience sake and she couldn't complain. She'd take showers the old fashioned way with a stool and bucket when need be, but she by far preferred the western showers that let her get in and out and go on her way. She pulled the shower door open letting him follow behind her and shut it as she turned on the water and adjusted the temperature accordingly. When she was satisfied with the water heat she reached for the soap only to find it missing.

"It'll be faster this way, Nanao-chan," he said brandishing the soap in his hand.

"Get on with it then," she said sourly. If anything she was annoyed that she knew he was going to wring yet another orgasm from her and once again force her to admit, if only to herself, that he was the best she'd ever had. Did the man ever get tired? It was getting ridiculous. Then all thoughts left her as his soaped up hands slipped up and over her body. His hands slid over every part of her and brushed against her most sensitive areas before quickly moving on to arms and legs. She held back a frustrated groan knowing it'd just encourage this behavior. Two could play that game. She reached for the soap in his hands and lathered up her own fingers reaching for him and rubbing over his skin as he attended to her. She slid her hands down over his chest and lower to his manhood, and he did a good job of hiding his own lustful groan. She quickly soaped him up as he hardened in her hands and moved on to his thighs. Both of them were thoroughly sudsy before his fingers slipped down her slippery ass cheek to reach around and slide into her vagina. She jerked forward on his fingers and bit back a cry. His free hand looped around her back and drew her even closer as he leaned down and kissed her.

She let him rub in and out of her a few times before breaking away from his hands and sliding down to her knees in the roomy shower. Making sure she cleaned all the soap from his hard cock with her hands she sucked him into her mouth. Bobbing her head slowly he groaned and leaned back against the shower wall. His hands went up to bury in her hair and her right hand came up to gently massage his balls. She heard her name slip through his lips like a prayer and she released him from her mouth to lick him root to tip before taking him back in again. Relaxing her throat she swallowed him further. He threw his head back and it sounded like it must have hurt when his head smacked the shower wall as she deep throated him.

"Fuck, Nanao," he groaned. In response she just sucked him harder and he quickly came in her mouth shooting his cum into the back of her throat. She pulled away and glanced up at him waiting for him to make eye contact before licking her lips. That was enough to have him dragging her to her feet and lifting her until she wrapped her legs around him. He was kissing her as he pressed a finger into her soaked opening. Shunsui got two fingers knuckle deep in her before he took up a consistent pace. She rocked her hips in time to his rhythm and felt the heat grow low in her belly.

Sex had always been a necessity to her. Just a thing she did when the stress got to be too much and she needed some release. More often then not she found herself touching herself to completion after her latest hookup got his rocks off and fell asleep. It was a good starting place, but they rarely finished her off right. Shunsui on the other hand squeezed orgasms out of her like most people wrung water out of a drenched cloth. Not only that but each orgasm was different, some slow and rolling, some fast and rough, some sharp and more a surprise than anything else. She was more than interested to see what else he could do to her body. It was unfair that he was so talented at this.

His fingers left her and he set her on her feet. Nanao reached blindly for him before finding him on his knees and his tongue slipping into her again. Her knees weakened and he helped her sink to her ass on the shower floor before burying his face between her thighs again. He pulled her legs up over his shoulders and she reached up to grasp the handle on the shower door and tried to ground herself again as she arched against the intrusion. His hands gripped her ass and pulled her towards him and she cried out as his tongue dove into her and then pulled out to swirl over her clit.

"Kiss me," she demanded, using her free hand to yank at his hair and slipping her legs aside. He came up willingly, and she could taste herself on his lips and tongue as he kissed her and the hot shower water ran down over them. She felt herself get wetter and arched her hips, running her slick center up the thigh he had pressed between her legs as he bent over her to kiss her. He thrust his knee further forward and she ground down on him desperately as he deepened the kiss. She'd be embarrassed about how uncontrollably needy she was being if it was anyone else.

Shunsui pulled away from her to look down at her and she couldn't help continuing her rhythmic thrusts up his thigh even if he was about to tease her for it. She thought she might die if she stopped now. She wanted him so badly she could feel the desire pulse from her toes and fingers right down to her core.

"I can't decide if I want you to come in my mouth or around my dick," he said slipping a hand lower to run down around her leg and then drag her even harder and up higher on to his thigh. "You're wetter than the fucking shower."

"I'm not usually like this," she admitted feeling drunk on lust. And it was true. She was very utilitarian about sex. You got in and you got out when necessary. "Although I suppose whenever I think about you when I touch myself I get wetter. I try not to do it too often because it feels like letting you win somehow, but sometimes when it's been a long time I think of you and I can tell the difference."

"Show me," he begged.

She wanted him to just plow into her, but she humored him for the time being, despite having turned similar requests from men down in the past. She slipped one hand from his skin running it down over her breast and further down to her opening slipping her fingers in and out and over her clit. He watched avidly and she felt the heat notch up higher inside her. "Did you ever do this thinking about me?"

His eyes darkened and he admitted, "I once returned to the office late from a night out at the bar and sat in your chair and masturbated until I came all over my hand and the chair. I cleaned it up, but god when you sat on it the following day I couldn't think of anything else but my cock inside you."

She groaned as she slipped two of her own fingers deep inside her and curled her fingers against her g-spot. "Was that the only time you thought of me?"

"All the time," he confessed never taking his eyes from her fingers playing with herself. "I've masturbated in this shower thinking of you sucking me off. Your hot little mouth wrapping around me and swallowing my cum down. This morning was a fantasy come true." She pulled her fingers out of her soaked vagina and ran them over his lips. He slipped the fingers into his mouth without a moment's hesitation and sucked them hard twice before releasing them with a wet pop. "I want you."

"I've used a dildo," she declared feeling drunk and brave from the way he looked at her with unguarded desire. "I've used it in the bath and screamed your name." He rammed into her at the end of her confession and she shouted. The thought of him masturbating to her as often as she had to him had driven her to a new level. His penis filled every inch of her and made her feel complete. She never wanted him to pull out of her. His thrusts were frantic and she held on to the shower door as his head lowered to suck a nipple into his mouth and his hand moved up to her clit. His cock slid along her channel and the tip dragged right over her g-spot eliciting a moan from her.

"You're throwing that thing away," he said harshly, barely getting the words out around his pants as he rocked in and out of her. "If you want me, you'll come here and have me."

"Yes," she squealed as he bit down on her shoulder. She nearly cried when he pulled out of her. She was relieved when he just sat back on the shower floor and pulled her into his lap. She jerked up quickly and settled his hardened staff back inside her. She took over the tempo and sped it up bouncing up and down in his lap. She put her hands on his shoulder to give herself extra leverage and he slipped his hands from her breasts down around her waist to her thighs. "Just as long as you keep coming inside me."

He kissed her chest and pressed up into her again. She was pretty sure he got just as turned on as she did by him releasing inside of her. She wondered fleetingly if he was used to coming in his other lovers or if it was as new to him as it was to her. She didn't have long to think about it though before his finger ghosted over her clit and she came hard, tightening and releasing around him over and over again. He let out a cry and ejaculated into her making them both shudder. She collapsed against his shoulder and tried to steady her breathing.

"This is my new favorite way to shower," he announced as her heartbeat slowed down. She let out a laugh, but stayed lying limply against him as he shifted around on the floor of the shower. Soon enough she found his shampoo lathered fingers massaging their way through her hair and she gave a pleased little sound. "Turn around."

She lazily lifted herself up and off of him settling back into his naked lap with her back to his front. He tilted her head the way he needed it and started rinsing the shampoo out quickly following up with conditioner. Nanao knew somewhere in a far corner of her mind that she shouldn't be letting him do this. She certainly hadn't ever done anything even remotely like it with the other men she'd slept with, but she was too relaxed and pleased to pull away from his talented hands. It wouldn't be the worst thing if she indulged once in a while. He rinsed out the conditioner and reached for the soap again. His hands slipped down over her and she arched under his hands before relaxing into him again.

"Careful, Nanao-chan," he growled into her ear. "Or we'll never get out of this shower."

She laughed hoarsely. "The water will get cold and we'll have to get out sometime."

"We'll keep each other warm, practical Nanao-chan," he murmured in her ear as his hands soaped down her arms.

Nanao got a real full laugh from that. "You're a romantic idiot," she said finally pulling away from him. "Come on, let's get this breakfast over with." She steadfastly refused his touches after that and they both got out of the shower a short time later.

By the time Nanao was dressed and made her way out to the kitchen Shunsui was humming happily as he made breakfast. Unlike her he'd been content to throw on a pair of pants, tie back his hair, and leave it at that. She blushed slightly when she saw red marks along his back from where her fingernails had bit into him. She'd have to be vigilant that he didn't leave any marks on her, at least in uncovered locations. She'd never hear the end of it from the SWA.

"Have a seat, Nanao-chan," he told her cheerfully smiling over his shoulder.

"You're going to have to tone down the 'I just got laid attitude' in the office, you know."

"Ah, but we're not in the office," he countered. "And I did just get laid."

She rolled her eyes, but didn't argue further as she took a seat at his table. He came over carefully balancing dishes and she smiled indulgently when he nearly danced back into the kitchen to grab their teacups. She didn't think she'd ever seen a man so happy just to have slept with her. Not that she'd ever stuck around to find out one way or another, but he really was ridiculous.

"So what are your plans for the weekend?" he asked as he settled himself at the table.

"I have some errands to get done today, and then tomorrow I was thinking about going to the park and reading."

"Do you need a big strong man to carry your bags for the errands?" She quirked a judgmental eyebrow at him and he changed his offer. "Or I could bring a picnic to the park tomorrow?"

"Do I have to say it again?"

"Yare, yare I know. We're not dating," he said holding up his hands in retreat. "Friends do sometimes picnic in the park you know."

"We never have."

"Because you keep saying no. It could be fun."

"Shut up and eat your breakfast."

"It could fulfill your lunch promise."

"We are, under no circumstances, picnicking in the park."

"Fine," he pouted as they dug into their breakfast. The rest of the breakfast was spent talking about weekend plans and office antics and avoiding deeper subjects, which was just fine by her. He really was going to get annoying with this talk of dating and doing things together. It wasn't what she wanted at all. She finished the last of her meal and stood up to leave.

"Done, already Nanao-chan?"

"Yes, like I said I've got errands." She watched his face drop. It'd be hard to detect for everyone else, well maybe not Ukitake, but she knew his facial expressions like the back of her hand. It was silly of him to get so upset by her refusal to spend more time with him when she'd warned him what this was. "I'll be back around eight tonight if that is convenient for you. If you have other plans that's fine too."

He lit up and she barely contained her eye roll. "Eight will work just fine for me. I have no plans that Nanao-chan can't trump. I'll be here. Would you like dinner?"

"I'll eat before I come over," she said firmly. Lines must be held. Especially against his warm cajoling eyes. He'd make her lose her head if she wasn't careful. She headed towards the door and he didn't stop her.

* * *

 **A/N: Too much? Or just right?**


	5. Lunch Plans

He watched her work unabashedly. She'd spent the first two days of the week acting like nothing had happened, but he couldn't forget the feel of her. She'd come back to him both Saturday and Sunday night, but not stayed over for either. No matter how he'd tried to convince her she'd been adamant about leaving. Then it'd been as if it'd never happened once they'd gotten back into the office on Monday. So by Wednesday he found himself watching her and not even pretending to nap when she looked in his direction.

"What is it?" she demanded finally.

"Am I not allowed to look at you?"

"Not when you're being creepy about it. You haven't looked away from me and people are starting to suspect."

"They don't suspect anything," he comforted secretly glad she'd at least made some vague mention of the change in their relationship. "At least not any more than they've always suspected and assumed."

"You've spent more hours in the office this week than you have in my entire time as your Fukutaicho."

"Like I said, I'm all about proper motivation." He winked at her and smiled as he saw her back go rigid and her temper rise. He really shouldn't tease her, but she was so easy to rile up that he never seemed to be able to resist.

"If you can't handle this like an adult then we'll have to stop it now," she threatened.

"Nanao-chan, calm down. What is there to suspect when they've suspected the worst for decades?"

She slammed her pen down and shoved her chair back from her desk. "I'm going to lunch. Everyone is out and you should go to lunch too. Don't bother to come back this afternoon. I have all the paperwork I need from you today."

He got up and crossed in front of her quickly in order to slide the office door shut and prevent her from leaving. She glared, but it only made him smile more. "Everyone is on their lunch hour, and you owe me a lunch."

"I didn't mean during the week," she huffed.

"You didn't put qualifiers on the agreement and I want to cash in now."

"I also never promised a public lunch," she said crossing her arms and preparing for battle.

"Who said anything about public?"

"You brought lunch?"

"You are lunch," he said throwing the lock on the door. With that he snagged her by the waist and pulled her into a fierce kiss he'd been missing since she walked out the door Sunday night. She pressed her hands to his chest and for a second he thought she'd push him away before she curled her tiny fists into his haori and pulled him towards her.

"We shouldn't in the office," she panted when they broke the kiss.

"Like you said, everyone is gone," he persuaded. His lips went to her throat and he kissed down her pulse.

"It's not appropriate," she said even as she tilted her head to the side to give him more access to her neck. He started shuffling them back towards the desk and she shuffled right along.

"It's the lunch hour, technically we're off work," he countered. One hand slid past her sash and into her pants cupping her through her underwear. She was already wet and he lifted his head to kiss her thoroughly and show her how much he liked that. She was breathing heavily and rolling her hips against his unmoving hand by the time he broke off the kiss. She'd flushed that pretty pink color he'd grown to love over the past weekend, and he smiled as he slipped his hand from her and took a step back. "But if you're uncomfortable, far be it from me to push the matter. We can have lunch another time, Nanao-chan."

"Don't you dare," she said grabbing him by the haori and dragging him back to her. "Let's just get it over with."

He pouted at her. "I don't want to if it's such a burden. I can get lunch with Jyuu if you're busy."

"Kyouraku Taicho."

He shook off her hand and took another step away from her. "Yes, Ise Fukutaicho?" She made a frustrated noise and tugged at him again.

"I would like to have lunch with you, Shunsui," she said begrudgingly.

He didn't need to be told twice. There was only so far you could push Nanao before she really did tell you to piss off. He leaned in to kiss her again and her hands came up and tangled in his hair. He nudged her back towards her desk and made quick work of her sash when her butt hit the edge of it, letting her pants slide down her legs. His fingers slipped into the edges of her simple white underwear and he broke their kiss to slide them down and follow her pants' progression. He lifted her as he glided back up her body and set her on the edge of her desk pressing her knees apart.

He paused a moment to take her in mussed, her legs spread wide, her labia already glistening with her own juices, and panting on top of her desk. He'd wanted to do this for so long he couldn't even remember when the fantasy had first presented itself to him. Sinking down to his knees he started kissing down her thigh towards her center. He had to hold on to her by the knees to keep her squirming in check. He made it to her core and gave her hips a firm little jerk towards him as he sunk his tongue into her folds. She gave a soft cry, obviously trying to keep herself quiet, as her back bowed and she sank her hands into his hair. He licked her leisurely and ran his hands up her side and into her uniform top. She responded to his every move, and he could feel himself get harder. It was impossible not to when he had the woman of his dreams so willing and wanton under his mouth. He moved his mouth up and around her hip line making her huff in displeasure as she lifted her hips to him trying to recapture his mouth with her wet lower lips. He smiled and pulled back, spreading her loose uniform top fully open, and enjoyed the view.

She leaned back on her elbows then and his eyes slipped down to her chest before he felt her tugging his face down to hers by his hair and their mouths made contact again. Her legs wrapped around his hips, pulling him in tightly against her, and he was sure she was going to leave a wet spot on his pants. Her kisses strayed up his cheek and she bit his earlobe lightly.

"Don't play games now, you promised me lunch," she breathed. He gave a growl and pressed his hips harshly up against her causing her to throw her head back. He couldn't resist as he bit down lightly on her exposed collarbone. "Either go down on me again or get your pants off," she demanded in her strictest Fukutaicho voice.

He smiled at that and kissed her hard as he slipped two fingers into her. She writhed against him and her hands started shoving his haoris off his shoulders and pressing his uniform out of the way as much as she could. He pumped in and out of her slowly as her hands roamed his chest. He paused for a second in his movements as her hand made its way into his pants and wrapped around him confidently. She gave him a firm stroke and he buried his face in her neck. Shunsui slipped his fingers from her with a wet noise and ran his hand down her thigh. Slipping from her grasping fingers he sunk back down between her knees again and gave her clit a firm suck. Nanao bucked up off the desk and he kissed her opening firmly.

"Oh please," she panted leaning back on the desk again as her arms grew weak. He thought nothing had ever sounded better in his long years of life. He slipped his fingers into her again and focused his mouth on her clit, quickly driving her over the edge. She shouted her release as she convulsed around him and he hoped the secretaries didn't come back early if only so she'd do this again with him and often. Her legs hung limply off the desk and he kissed his way back up her body, stopping to pay particular attention to her exposed breasts.

"Lunch is almost over," she said languidly. "You better hurry if you want to take care of yourself too."

"I don't trap myself in the office, Nanao-chan. I can go home and deal with my problem whenever."

"You're going to go home and masturbate when you have the opportunity to finish with me?" The horror in her tone was almost comical.

"I wouldn't want to force myself on you," he teased.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and dragged him in closer to her. "Finish what you start," she commanded.

He knew better than to ignore that tone of voice, dropping his pants, guiding himself to her entrance, and thrusting into her. She arched again and rocked with him as his hands moved down to grip her ass. They moved against one another and the desk creaked under their combined weight. He looked down at his undone Fukutaicho, her uniform barely hanging on to her arms, her head thrown to the side as she panted with her glasses askew, and her hips rising to meet him, and wondered again if this was all a dream. He picked up the pace and she threw her arm out knocking a stack of papers and a penholder off her desk and sending them scattering as she grabbed the edge of the desk to give herself more leverage to meet him.

"We really shouldn't be doing this," she moaned.

"It's a little late for that now. I won't tell if you won't." He grinned down at her and she threw him a glare. The look faded with his next thrust though when he hit that spot inside her that made her lose all sense. She threw her head back once more and picked up the pace with her hips. He matched her willingly and groaned his own release when she tightened up all around him and he erupted inside her. Her breathy moan was the most delicious sound he'd ever heard, well at least since the last time they'd had sex. Nanao always made the most wonderful noises.

"You're going to have to pick that up and reorganize those papers," Nanao ordered as they caught their breaths.

"I didn't knock it over, sweetheart." He pulled away from her and debated how much time they had.

"We don't have time for a second round. They'll be coming back soon." She slipped off the desk and reached for her clothing. "You are cleaning that up. Now put your pants on, Kyouraku Taicho."

"Whatever you need, Ise Fukutaicho."

"Stop calling me that, you idiot."

"You've been telling me to call you that for years."

"You're doing it now to be an ass," she hissed, tying up her sash and straightening her uniform. He tried not to think too hard about the fact that she'd be a sweet little mess in her white underwear for the rest of the day. If he allowed himself to linger on that image he'd throw her over his shoulder and drag her back to his home. "And put your pants on. I mean it. The lunch hour is practically over."

"The most amazing lunch hour that ever was."

"And will never happen again."

"Aw, come on, you enjoyed it too," he wheedled as he reached for his pants to do as she wished.

"It was unprofessional and it's never happening again."

"You said we could."

"Afterhours," she defended.

"Fine, Nanao-chan, I will never make you orgasm during lunch again," he said reaching for the spilled pens once he'd gotten his uniform haphazardly back in place, which honestly looked about like it normally did. "I promise." She sighed and knelt down next to him starting to reorganize the papers. "I can do that."

"I knocked them off," she said with a sigh. "This is half my fault. I shouldn't have let you talk me into it."

"Very generous of you, Nanao-chan." He let the sarcasm into his tone and wondered why she felt she had to make this so difficult. So maybe he shouldn't have started things in the office, but he'd missed her and it wasn't like she hadn't enjoyed it too.

"I should have known you'd be impossible." The heat in her tone caught him by surprise and she slammed the barely sorted papers back into a stack on her desk.

"Nanao-chan, I'm really trying to be sympathetic here, but I honestly don't see the problem. No one was here, and technically we don't get paid for the lunch hour so it's not like we were slacking off."

"You wanted to get caught," she accused.

"Nanao-chan," he said standing up with the re-ordered pens in hand. He put it on her desk and leaned forward forcing her to catch his eyes before continuing seriously, "If I wanted to get caught I would have made it a point to last longer. I'd have had you screaming my name with half the office back from lunch. Don't tell me you think I couldn't have done it."

"Why else would you do it now?" she hissed despite her blush. The sounds of people returning from lunch reached their ears. "You wanted to get caught."

"Or I just really really wanted to have sex with you again."

"If you wanted to have sex with me so badly why wait till Wednesday in the office?" she demanded in a pissed off whisper. "It's not like you don't know where I live."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "I didn't know I was allowed to call on you. You didn't exactly lay down any ground rules other than not telling anyone. I assumed if you wanted me you'd come get me, and I wasn't allowed to seek you out."

She blushed brighter and busied her hands with reorganizing her desk. "We're friends with benefits now, aren't we? You're allowed to find me if you need some release." She seemed to think about it and frowned. "As long as you're discreet."

"Well, now I know. You'll probably regret giving me that leeway."

She glanced at the window and sighed before fiddling with the items on her desk and refusing to meet his eyes. "I thought maybe you didn't want to continue with me after the weekend."

"What in the hell gave you that impression?"

"You didn't even try anything for two days. Just acted like nothing had happened."

"I thought that was part of the rules," he said honestly. "It's not like you tried anything or gave me any signal that I could."

"It is part of the rules at work, but then you'd just say goodnight and leave for the evening with nothing."

"I figured you'd come to me when you wanted me. I thought I was just supposed to wait."

"So what happened just now?"

"I couldn't take it any longer and thought, fuck the rules," he admitted. "Nanao-chan, don't think for a second I don't want to be with you."

"Don't say it like that."

"Like what?"

"Like we're in a relationship."

"We are." She glared at him and he clarified. "Friends with benefits counts as a type of relationship."

"You know that's not what I meant."

"I know," he said. "Look, I'm trying to play by your rules Nanao-chan. I want you that badly, but you've got to at least let me know what the rules are or I won't know when I'm screwing up."

She sighed and went over to the door unlocking it quietly. "You should go. I wasn't lying when I said it's weird that you're here for this length of time and you've also finished your paperwork."

"But tonight?" he asked hopefully.

"I don't have any plans," she said with a shrug.

"You do now," he said and stopped her before she could open the door pressing her to the wall with a searing kiss. God, he wanted her again. Just the thought of her still slick from both of their fluids under her pristine uniform was enough to get his blood rushing south. He really might have to take care of his problem at home. He shifted more fully against her and she inhaled sharply when she felt his erection forming again.

"Go or you really will get us caught," she whispered.

"You want to do it again," he said with a knowing smirk. "We could be quiet."

"Get out," she hissed. "We're not doing that again."

"Never?" he whined.

"I didn't say never," she said and flushed. "But certainly not now. Now get out." Then she pushed past him, sat down at her desk, and pulled a stack of paperwork towards her without looking at him.

"I'll cook dinner," he offered.

"No, you won't," she said not looking up from her work.

"It's not because I want a romantic dinner, Nanao-chan," he countered. "You'll just need your energy."

She picked up a paperweight and threw it hard at his head. He dodged to the side and slammed the door open rolling out through it. "Well if you really don't want me to do anymore work today, Nanao-chan, you could have just said!" he shouted getting giggles from their secretaries. Their subordinates were more than used to these kinds of antics.

"Kyouraku Taicho!"

"Cover my exit, ladies," he said with a wink. "I was particularly naughty today." He dodged out while a stapler came flying out of their office. He'd take a quick trip home and then he had some groceries to buy.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry it's a bit short. I'll try to update faster this time. As always thank you for the reviews. I don't think you know how hearing from all of you and the little ding of my inbox makes my day!**


	6. Brownies

"Nanao-san! Nanao-san, wait up!"

Nanao stopped and turned waiting for Kiyone to catch up with her. It was Saturday and Nanao just wanted to finish her errands and go home and take a nap. She'd been exhausted the past month or so, and while she couldn't complain about the cause, she really did need some rest. "Did you need something, Kotetsu-san?"

"Oh no, I just saw you out and wanted to make sure you were ok."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, it's just that you missed the SWA meeting last night and no one knew where you were."

"Oh," Nanao said fighting down a blush. "I completely forgot."

"You forgot?" The surprise in Kiyone's tone was warranted. Nanao had never forgotten an SWA meeting in her life.

"Yes, I'm sorry. I was, uh, working late and time just got away from me." She started walking again hoping the conversation was over. She'd really spent last night in Kyouraku's bed until the wee hours of the morning. Well, his bed and his couch and one time his floor. The floor had been ill advised as she now had a rug burn on her ass. Thank god she'd had the forethought to guard both of their residences with kido blocking spells that didn't allow people to track reiatsus in your home. A lot of higher level shinigami had them anyway to help protect against assassination attempts so no one thought anything of it.

"It's ok, nothing really happened other than Yachiru-chan eating a pound of candy."

"Well, sorry I missed it." Nanao glanced around and wondered how to quickly exit this conversation. She really did want to go home and sleep and had no interest in the latest gossip from the SWA. As long as that gossip didn't include her and Kyouraku more than it usually did she was a happy camper. Since Matsumoto had not attacked her for details about their sex life she had to assume they were getting away with it for the most part. Not that there hadn't been close calls. She'd had a brief panic attack a week ago when they'd been shunpoing her home at one in the morning, as Shunsui refused to let her go alone after a certain hour, and almost ran directly into Matsumoto and her entourage. Shunsui had been swift enough to drag her around a corner and hide them both in the shadows of an alley, but it had been a near thing.

"You're still coming to the bake sale tomorrow, right?"

Nanao's brain went through a litany of curses she didn't allow herself to say out loud. "Of course. I'll have the brownies for it that I promised."

"Great, well I guess we'll see you then!" Kotestsu waved and Nanao nodded curtly before moving into a shunpo. She had a grocery store to get to.

* * *

She didn't bother using the back door when she made it to Kyouraku's later that afternoon. She'd completely forgotten about the bake sale and the meeting. She'd been forgetting a lot of things recently, but she blamed that on the lack of sleep. And really who could blame her if she missed teaching an early morning kido class once in a total of fifty years? She was only human after all. She'd invested in a louder alarm clock after that particular incident. Her third seat had almost broken down her door in his panic, thinking something awful had happened to her. "Kyouraku!"

"Huh? Wha?" he asked jolting up from the couch where he'd clearly been taking a nap.

"You have to get up," she said dropping her shopping bags by the door and slamming it shut again.

"What's the emergency?" he asked yawning. Clearly her tone was more 'office stress' than 'someone is bleeding out' or he'd already have been on his feet.

"You have to get up," she demanded making her way around the couch and tugging on his arm. He twisted his arm to grab her hand and pulled her into his lap.

"I'm up," he said with a grin. She could feel his erection through their clothing and rolled her eyes.

"Not that," she said smacking his shoulder. "What kind of dreams were you having anyway?"

"Only ever about you. Would you like to hear this one? I think you might like it," he said with a sleepy grin before moving his face to kiss her. She put a hand up to stop him and slipped off his lap.

"We don't have time for that. There is a bake sale in less than 24 hours and I promised a copious amount of brownies for it. You have to get baking."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course, I'm serious. You promised. You got your breakfast and I want my brownies."

"Nanao-chan," he whined. "We have plenty of time to make brownies before tomorrow."

"No, I don't think you understand how many brownies I promised," she argued. "You need to start now."

"I'm in a state," he pouted.

"So go take care of it!"

"Nanao-chan," he whined again.

"You are impossible," she said rolling her eyes. She dropped down in front of him and tugged on his pants. "Lift," she commanded and he raised himself up enough to let her pull the pants down to his ankles. "After this you're making brownies until your fingers bleed, and I'm taking a well deserved nap."

"I love it when you talk dirty to me," he said before groaning as she wrapped her lips around him.

She rolled her eyes again and released him to lick down his cock before taking him back into her mouth. One of his hands buried itself in her hair and she felt him knock her clip free. He seemed to be obsessed with her hair down. She bobbed her head and took him deeper into her mouth wrapping her hand around his base. She used her free hand to massage his balls.

"I want you," he said reaching for her. She knocked his hand away and sucked on him harder running her tongue over his tip in the way she knew he liked. He seemed to lose his plan of action as his hand dropped away and his head hit the back of the couch. She picked up the pace and hummed around him. It didn't take long before he came in her mouth and she released him with one last lick. "I missed you."

"You saw me last night," she said getting up.

"And I missed you after you left."

"Brownies, now."

"Yare, yare, I'm going." He stood up and pulled his pants up from around his ankles. "Are you sure you wouldn't like me to return the favor first? The dream gave me some very creative ideas and dream you seemed to enjoy them quite a bit."

"No, I'm exhausted," she answered. "I just want you to make the stupid brownies, and I want to go home and sleep."

"Just stay here."

"Kyouraku," she warned.

"Are you not planning on coming over tonight?"

"You know I am."

"Then it's stupid to go home. Stay here. I'll make brownies and you'll sleep. When you wake up the brownies will be done and we can have some fun. I'll even save some extra brownie mix just for it." He waggled his eyebrows at her and she tried to shake loose the idea of him licking brownie batter off her body.

"You'd get salmonella," she chastised. "You promise to bake and leave me alone? I can't flake out on the SWA again."

"Taicho's honor," he said making an X with his fingers in front of his heart.

She snorted at that. "If I wake up and there aren't dozens and dozens of brownies I will never sleep with you again."

"Well I wouldn't worry about there being brownies then," he said kissing her. "Go. My bed is your bed."

"Your bed is excellent," she conceded.

"Yes it is." He led her down the hallway. "Even better when you're in it."

"Flirt."

"Honest observation," he countered. She'd have argued further, but she really was tired and they'd made it to his bedroom and the bed looked so inviting. "Strip down."

"I told you, I can't. I'm just too tired, and I really need those brownies."

"I'm just going to find you something to sleep in, sweetheart," he said. "Unless you really want to sleep in your clothes."

She glared at him, but started shedding her clothes all the same as he rifled through his closet. He turned around with a shirt in hand and she took it from him yanking it over her head. Unfazed, he just smiled and pulled down the blankets letting her sulk past him and crawl into bed.

"Get some rest," he said removing her glasses, kissing her forehead, and tucking her in. "You'll wake up to brownies."

"That's my favorite way to wake up," she mumbled already feeling sleepiness wash over her.

"Is that so? You seemed to really enjoy the way I woke you up the other night."

"I was only dozing," she argued. "And your brownies are almost as good as your cunnilingus."

"I'm not sure if that's a compliment to my brownies or an insult to my cunnilingus."

"Compliment," she soothed tiredly. Her eyes had already started slipping shut and she snuggled down further.

"Sleep, Nanao-chan." And he didn't need to tell her twice. She was out before she even heard him leave the room.

* * *

She woke up with a start. Or at least she would have if a rather large arm hadn't been around her waist pinning her to the bed.

"You didn't!" She began shoving his arm off her waist and kicking at his legs.

"Wha? Are you ok?"

"You did not fall asleep next to me!"

"Is that a crime?"

"You were supposed to be making brownies. It's dark outside," she said motioning towards the windows. "How are you going to get them done in time for the bake sale tomorrow?"

"First off," he said wrapping his arm back around her waist and dragging her back into him. "It's already tomorrow. Second off, there are dozens upon dozen of brownies cooling in the kitchen ready and waiting for the bake sale."

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You seemed beat." He shrugged. "I wanted you to get some rest, but I was tired too and the couch gives me a neck crick if I sleep there too long." He kissed her collarbone where his shirt exposed her skin. "Go back to sleep."

"I should go home."

He pressed his front more firmly against her back even though he wasn't currently aroused. "Want to play first?"

"Don't pretend you're not trying to get me to stay the whole night," she said fighting off a yawn. He'd been doing it for the past few weeks. Trying to convince her to stay after they were done.

"Who said anything about pretending? You're tired, I'm tired, and it's four in the morning. It doesn't make any sense for you to go home. Especially not when you're welcome here."

"Friends with benefits don't stay the night."

"Sure they do. That's the perk of friends with benefits as opposed to no strings attached." He curled around her further and she squirmed.

"You'll get the wrong idea."

"Nanao-chan, you've made it more than clear that you don't want to date me. Please don't force us both to make a 4 AM shunpo run back to your place only for you to come back in a few hours to get the brownies. You wouldn't be so tired if you'd just get some solid sleep."

"No one is forcing you to go anywhere."

"I'm not letting you go home at this hour alone," he said with a sigh. He sat up and leaned over the bed searching for his pants.

To be honest she didn't want to leave the warm confines of the bed either, and she couldn't fault him on his logic. She had a spare change of clothes here that could work for tomorrow, and the SWA would expect her to come with him as they knew she would most likely force him to do the baking and help her carry it over. One night really wouldn't hurt anyone.

"If I'm going to stay then we should at least have sex," she said finally. "So that there was a reason I was here other than just sleeping with you."

Kyouraku paused in his efforts to get his pants on. "Nanao-chan, can't the reason just be that it was convenient? That it's actually silly for you not to stay?"

"You don't want to have sex with me?"

"I am always happy to fulfill your whims, but do I want to have sex with you just to fit some strange logic behind why you're sleeping in my bed when neither of us are particularly in the mood and we're both tired? Not really."

"I do want to have sex," she argued and then yawned. "Go get the brownie batter." She rubbed at her eyes and tried to wake up.

"This is ridiculous. You should change and we'll shunpo you home." He shook his head angrily and turned away from her. She saw the slump in his shoulders that meant he was disappointed with her.

"You're going to make me leave?"

"The choice is yours, but we're not having sex when you're clearly exhausted and not even interested," he said pulling a shirt out from his closet. "This isn't a brothel. You're not on the clock. But if it makes you uncomfortable I'm not going to make you stay."

"I just don't want to give you the wrong idea."

"Nanao-chan, like I said, you've made it very clear that we are not now nor will we ever be dating," he said rubbing a hand down his face. "I'm not going to get confused because you slept a night in my bed without screwing."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way, it's just that you try so hard to get me to stay, and I didn't want you to think-"

"It's fine," he cut her off. "Are we going?"

"Is it still ok if I stay?" she asked picking at the blanket pooling in her lap.

"If you want to."

"I do," she said darting her eyes up to him. He stood rigidly in the middle of his room and his expression was guarded. "Come back to bed. I'm sorry." He shook his head but went about stripping down again. He crawled in next to her as she lay back down, but didn't reach for her like he usually did. She tried to tell herself this was for the best, but it bothered her all the same. "Thank you for making the brownies."

"Of course, we had a deal."

"Are you angry at me?"

He sighed and rolled on his side to face her. "I'm not angry at you. I just don't know why everything has to be a constant struggle. I understand what you want from me."

"But you want more from me," she said. And it was true. He constantly made allusions to the relationship he'd like to have with her. It's why she had to work so hard to keep him at arm's length now.

"Nanao-chan, until you allow me to tell people we're together I'm well aware this is nothing but a relationship of convenience. One night in my bed sleeping, one dinner, or one day spent together isn't going to make me think otherwise. Don't get me wrong, I like having sex with you Nanao, but I occasionally just miss you."

"I don't mean to be difficult."

He snorted at that and reached for her. "Yes, you do."

"I mean I do, but I don't mean to make you angry," she clarified letting him cuddle her into his side.

"It's fine, sweetheart," he said kissing the top of her head. "Go back to sleep. You've got a big day tomorrow."

"It's just a bake sale."

"You hate bake sales."

"True," she mumbled tucking her toes between his warm calves. "It's better when I didn't have to pretend to try to attempt to bake anything though."

"Goodnight, Nanao-chan."

* * *

 **A/N: Tell me what you think! I've had a stressful week and I'm not above begging for reviews to cheer me up ;) Going to try and get another chapter out this weekend for you all!  
**


	7. Little Slips

She hated bake sales. They were always long, and she hated standing around and trying to sell people things they didn't necessarily want. She knew it was for a good cause, but between beating Yachiru away from the goods and ignoring the impromptu picnic party that Matsumoto has started next to the bake stand, she was about to call it quits.

"Kyouraku Taicho make the brownies?"

"Yes, you don't need to be afraid of them," she said giving Hisagi a small smile. Hisagi was probably one of the closest friends she had. Not many people knew it as they didn't go out together, but they'd spent a lot of time working on the Seireitei Communication late into the night over the years and he was good at not gossiping which she appreciated.

"Awfully kind of him."

"Oh, don't worry, they had a price tag."

"Do I even want to know?"

"It was just sharing a meal with him," she said rolling her eyes. "Get your mind out of the gutter."

He glanced around to make sure no one was near them. "I just figured after overhearing the two of you having sex that it was something more scandalous."

"What?" she hissed.

"Don't worry, I haven't told anyone," he said with a shrug.

"When?"

"You missed submitting your column and I figured you were just working late so I thought I'd do you a favor and come over and pick it up at your office."

"Last Tuesday," she groaned.

"Yep."

"I completely forgot."

"It's ok, I ran another column. I didn't figure I'd be getting anything productive out of you that night."

"I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. I'm happy for you. I kept telling you you should have more fun, and from what I heard you're certainly having fun."

"We're not really together," she clarified making sure no one was paying attention to their conversation and desperately fighting down a blush.

"Obviously," he said tilting his head towards one of the picnic blankets where Kyouraku was holding court. She'd been actively ignoring it all afternoon. "So? Worth it?"

"Hisagi-san," she chastised.

"What? Just wondering if the rumors are true."

"They're true, and that's all you're getting out of me."

"Was it his idea or yours to not really be together?"

"Mine. Can we stop talking about this?"

"Fine." He held up his hands in peace.

"Ise-san, your shift is over," Kotetsu said popping up next to them.

"Thank you, Kotetsu-san." She shuffled out from behind the table and tried not to display how relieved she was to be done.

"Two of the brownies," Hisagi ordered with a grin. "Come on Ise-san, one of these is for you. You earned it after all."

"I don't need one."  
"Already had enough?" he teased with a raised eyebrow. She snatched the brownie out of his hand and walked away as he paid. "Wait up!"

"What do you want?" She headed over to where everyone else had spread out on picnic blankets in the park.

"He's trying to make you jealous, you know."

"I'm well aware." She didn't bother sparing a glance over at where her Taicho sat surrounded by women as they all drank and laughed.

"Why all the secrecy?"

"I don't particularly want everyone to know I'm sleeping with my Taicho," she said sitting down on a nearby rock.

"But everyone thinks you are anyway," he replied with a shrug. "Wouldn't it be more practical not to be hiding it?"

"No, he'd think he has a chance at a relationship," she said biting into the brownie. "Damn it, this is a good brownie."

"Man of many talents." Hisagi laughed and sat down next to her. "A relationship would be bad?"

"Yes, if we were in a relationship this sort of thing would piss me off," she said nodding in his general direction.

"He'd probably stop if you were dating him."

"For a time." She shrugged. "Relationships always go to hell."

"And you would know from your many relationships?"

"I have an advice column. I've read and seen enough in my life to know it always ends poorly. It's a waste of time. I'm not going to risk my career over it."

"This isn't risking your career?"

"Hardly, he has open relationships all the time. He'll get over it when this ends. Besides it'll be much easier for him to end something open-ended when he gets bored without feeling bad about it and dragging it out. And he will eventually even if he doesn't see it now. I'd have to leave if a relationship ended."

"Whatever you say, Nanao-san. These brownies are actually really really good. I wouldn't have judged you if you had traded sex for them."

"Good to know your price."

He laughed. "I've got to go, but seriously you owe me a column this week."

"Will do." She leaned back to soak up more of the sun and wondered if she had to stay for the rest of the bake sale. It'd probably look bad if she left.

"Good afternoon, Ise-san," said a warm voice to her right.

"Ukitake Taicho," she greeted with a smile.

"Beautiful day," he noted.

"Yes, it is." She fidgeted and glanced around. She was no good at small talk. "Look I know you know. It's fine."

"Ise-san?"

"You don't have to pretend you don't know Kyouraku and I are sleeping together."

"You are?" The shock on his face convinced her he wasn't playing with her.

"He didn't tell you?" she asked stunned.

"I honestly haven't seen much of him lately." He was clearly trying to maintain his composure. "I was actually going to ask you if you knew what was wrong with him, as we were all starting to worry about his absence, but I suppose that was the incorrect question."

"I can't believe he didn't tell you."

"To be fair, I didn't ask him who he was sleeping with recently. Shunsui rarely offers the information up as I've made it quite clear over the years that I don't need the details of his intimate relationships. Even less so when it's someone I know."

"I'm sorry. Can we just pretend like I never told you that?"

"Is anyone supposed to know?"

"Not besides you."

"No wonder I haven't seen much of him lately. You would be the only person to capture his attention so completely. Is there a reason he's over there with 12 women instead of over here with you?"

"Because we're not like that," she said risking a quick look over at her Taicho as the group of girls around him burst into another fit of giggles. "Its just sex, really good sex, but we are not in a relationship and no one is supposed to know. Although I've clearly blown that."

"He agreed to that?" Ukitake took a seat on the rock next to her and gave her a quizzical look.

"Why wouldn't he?"

"Because he loves you."

"Don't say that."

"It's not like you don't know."

"He doesn't love me. He just thinks he loves me. Once we've slept together long enough he'll get bored and move on."

"Ise-san, I don't often tell you you're wrong, but in this particular instance you're wrong."

"He's clearly just fine," she said with a vague gesture in his direction.

"I haven't seen my best friend outside of work in about a month now. Women don't usually distract him to that extent."

"I'm a novelty, and he's a convenience."  
"Keep telling yourself that. Meanwhile he hasn't so obviously tried to taunt a woman into taking possessive action since we were in our academy days."

"I'm telling you it doesn't mean anything."

"If that's really true you should stop sleeping with him."

"Oh, and why is that?"

"Because you'll break his heart," Ukitake said seriously. "No wonder he's been avoiding me. I'd have known something was up, and I'd have strongly advised him against this. This type of relationship with you will cause him a lot of pain."

"You're being overdramatic, Ukitake Taicho. He's had just sex relationships in the past, including Yadomaru Fukutaicho."

"And that's all he wanted from you? Just sex?" She was silent and he nodded. "That's what I thought. It's cruel to ask him for so much and so little at the same time, and despite his frequent complaints I've never thought of you as cruel Ise-san."

"He's a grown man, he can do what he wants. I didn't force anything," she defended standing up.

"I'm sorry, Ise-san. I didn't mean to insult you, but he is my best friend."

"And he's just fine. Ask him yourself if you don't believe me. If you don't mind, my shift is done for the day and I think I'm giong to head home."

"Of course."

She took that as enough of a goodbye and turned to leave. She was already drained from this day and didn't feel the need to defend herself to anyone else. She had a good book and a bath in her future and the SWA could take care of its own bake sale. She hadn't voted for the stupid thing anyway.

* * *

"Do you really think this is wise?" Jyuushiro settled down next to his friend after Shunsui sent the women surrounding him scattering for more refreshments and bake sale snacks.

"Are you calling me fat?" Shunsui asked smiling. "When has more libations and sweet treats not been wise?"  
"I meant Ise-san."

"What is that supposed to mean? Nanao-chan isn't even here anymore. You should know. You were over there chatting her up before she left." Jyuushiro wondered if he detected a hint of jealousy in his friend's tone and upgraded his degree of worry from normal to high.

"She told me what's been going on between you two." Jyuushiro winced when he heard a crack as Shunsui whipped his head around to look at him.

"She told you?"

"By accident. She thought you already had and wanted me to stop acting like I didn't know."

"I'd have told you," Shunsui said leaning back on his hands. "But I didn't want you to talk me out of it."

"Would I have even been able to with Ise-san?"

"No, but you'd have put enough doubt in my mind to make it less enjoyable much earlier."

"Earlier?"

"Look, I don't regret my decision," he said taking a swig of his sake. "She's everything I ever thought she'd be and more. But am I annoyed that she won't actually be with me or even consider it? Yes. She's just had some shitty relationships. Once she sees I'm not going anywhere it'll change."

"And having your groupies all over you today is going to help that?"

"It's what people expect," he said with a shrug. "She'd be more angry if I was suddenly turning them away. She'd say it was my fault people figured out we were sleeping together."

"Sounds exhausting."

"It is, but not exactly because of keeping it a secret," he said with an eyebrow wiggle trying to lighten the mood.

"She's going to destroy you."

"She'll come around."

"And if she doesn't?"

"We're meant to be and the sex is fantastic."

"She's telling a very different story."

"She said the sex was bad?" Shunsui asked mock horrified.

"You know what I mean."

"She's stubborn, but logical. She's choosing me right now because I'm easy and close, but she'll figure out we're meant to be eventually. She's too smart not to."

"I hope you know what you're doing, old friend. She doesn't seem swayed so far. Besides that, you're going to have to do a much better job of showing up at social events if you really don't want people to know. I've gotten more questions recently about where you've been hiding than questions from my 3rd seats about my health."

Shunsui flinched. "I may have let myself get a little bit distracted. She calls and I answer."

"And yet you still don't think she's going to crush your heart into a million pieces. Loving her isn't going to change her magically. If she's dead set against having a relationship with you, then just being there isn't likely to change her mind. You're going to get hurt."

"I can take care of myself," Shunsui said sharply and Ukitake felt the mood take a decidedly dark turn. He let his surprise show and Shunsui visibly forced himself to relax. "Sorry. The whole thing has me on edge. I want more, but I'm not willing to lose the little she's offering. There's no right answer, but I promise I'll be more careful."

Ukitake groaned internally. He'd seen Shunsui crushed before a very long time ago. The woman he'd been head over heels for right out of the academy had used him ruthlessly to make her old long term lover envious and quickly ran off once she'd gotten the engagement she'd wanted. Shunsui had been more guarded after that harsh lesson, but it looked like history was going to repeat itself with Nanao. Having said his piece though, there was nothing he could do but be there for his friend when the shit hit the fan. A joke was definitely in order to fend off his friend's brooding. "What'd she have to do for the brownies?" Shunsui opened his mouth to respond and Ukitake shook his head. "You know what, on second thought I don't want to know."

"I'd have made the brownies for her without her ever having sex with me."

"I know, it's why I worry about you," Ukitake said honestly resting his hand on Shunsui's shoulder.

"I'll convince her I'm worth the risk of heart break and public humiliation," he said and then snorted. "It just might take a while. To be honest, I thought my skills in bed might hasten her decision to take the chance."

"She said it was good at least."

"She said that?"

"It was an off-hand comment."

"It's a start," Shunsui said slapping on a fake smile as the women returned. "She came to me. It's a start." He scooted over as the women made it back to the picnic blanket. "Beautiful ladies, my heart soars at your return!"

"It was good to see you," Jyuushiro put in as he stood up. "Make it more frequent." He clapped Kyouraku on the back and headed out. He had no interest in watching Kyouraku woo women he didn't even want.

* * *

She debated leaving him out there. It was two in the morning and she'd been dead asleep. Then again if she left him out there he'd probably do something embarrassing and draw attention to himself. He knocked again and she muttered as she crawled out of the warm cocoon of her bed.

"It's two in the morning," she said instead of greeting him when she pulled the door open.

"Is it?" He gave her a loopy grin and she realized he was drunk.

She sighed and stepped aside letting him into her home. She hadn't had to deal with him drunk since they'd started this. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm horny?"

"You're drunk," she corrected. "Go sit down on the couch and I'll make some coffee for you."

"I don't want coffee," he said reaching for her waist. "I want you."

"Couch, now." She left him, assuming he'd follow her orders, and headed to the kitchen. A moment later she found him pressed up against her as she reached for a mug. "I said to take a seat."

He buried his face in her hair and took a deep breath. "I missed you."

"You clearly entertained yourself just fine."

"I was just trying to make you jealous."

"I'm well aware."

"Then I thought maybe I'd go out and get drunk and have some fun like old times, but I was just miserable. So now I'm horny."

"Being miserable made you horny?" She pushed back on him and he stepped away from her willingly. She turned to face him and found him staring at his feet. "Shunsui?"

"Yes," he said whipping his head up and swaying lightly on his feet. "Yes, I'm horny. We should go to bed and make the sex."

"Make the sex?" she asked lifting an eyebrow and trying not to laugh. "Go sit on the couch and I'll get you coffee."

"I don't want coffee. You'll give me coffee and then make me leave."

"Well, I'm not having sex with you when you smell like alcohol and other women's perfume."

"I can shower," he said turning as if trying to figure out the way to her bathroom. She snagged his arm and led him over to the couch.

"You don't even want to have sex, so why are you here?"

"I do too," he pouted.

"No you don't. I've seen you horny and you've tried to seduce me enough times sober and drunk for me to identify that this is not that. So why are you lying about it?"

"I'm not allowed to stay if we're not having sex," he admitted drunkenly. "I didn't want to go home alone, and I didn't want to go with that girl that kept trying to get me to."

Nanao bit her lip. He really was the most impossible man. "Go on." His head snapped up to look at her thinking she was making him leave, and she couldn't stand those sad puppy dog eyes. "Get in the shower and I'll make the coffee. You're not sleeping in my bed smelling like that."

"I can stay?" he asked hopefully. "I can get you off, I promise."

"Just get in the shower. You'll drink the coffee and sober up some and then we'll go to sleep. Don't think for a second you're welcome here whenever you're drunk though."

"Of course not, Nanao-chan," he crooned.

"Go." She tugged him upright and gave him a push towards the bathroom. He went eagerly enough and she headed back towards the kitchen. He really was hopeless. Not that she wasn't pleased he hadn't slept with a random groupie. If nothing else she didn't want to catch something from him, but he was free to do whatever he wanted. She hadn't laid down any rules about him sleeping with anyone else. Given she really hadn't thought about it too much. Some part of her had just figured if he was sleeping with her he wasn't sleeping with anyone else. Thinking of it now made her stomach twist. She finished the coffee and poured him a cup heading back to the living room. He came out of the shower moments later with a towel wrapped around his waist and droplets of water doing interesting things on his chest.

"Coffee?" he asked when she didn't surrender the cup. She blinked and handed it over. He was a very distracting man.

"Shower help?"

"A bit," he said with a shrug that moved his muscles in delicious ways. "I'm sorry I just showed up like this, Nanao-chan. I can leave if you want."

"It's fine," she said. "I don't want you passing out in some random alley. You'll just have to be discreet when you leave tomorrow."

"I really can get you off if you want," he offered with lazy eyes as he sipped his coffee.

"You're still drunk."

"I'm not at my best drunk, but I've not had too many complaints." He threw his head back and finished the rest of the coffee in one gulp. "If you want, I'll give it my best try."

"Stop," she said shaking her head and taking the cup from him. "Keep your hands to yourself." She moved to the kitchen and put the cup in the sink.

"And my mouth?" he called.

"Keep that to yourself too," she said favoring him with a tired laugh as she wandered back to him. "Come on." She reached down and helped him get to his feet again. She kept a hold of his hand and led him back to her bedroom. She tugged the towel from his hips and he gave her a drunken leer that he would have been proud of sober. "Go to sleep."

"Naked?"

"Or in your underclothes as long as they don't smell," she said. "Whatever you want, but unlike you I have nothing that will fit you here. It's not like you haven't slept in the nude before."

"Yeah, but those times you were naked too," he argued.

"So get your clothes from where I'm sure you left them on the bathroom floor."

"They're uncomfortable to sleep in."

"You sleep in them during the day all the time."

"Those are naps not night sleep."

"Get your drunk self into bed. I'm going to hurt myself if I have to roll my eyes at you one more time." She left him in the room to hang up the towel in the bathroom. While she was in there she picked up his discarded clothing and folded it over her arm. She really did just want to go back to bed. Re-entering the room she found him still naked sitting on the edge of her bed. "That's not getting into bed." She set his clothes down on the edge of her dresser and nudged him so she could pull the rumpled blanket out from underneath him and manipulate his legs under the covers.

"I love you," he confessed sleepily.

"Shunsui," she sighed. Nanao ignored the little jump in her pulse the words caused. They were just words after all. She wasn't some idiot girl to go gushy over words that could be untrue in only a few short weeks or months depending on the man.

"I know I'm not supposed to say it, sorry."

"It's fine. You just need to sleep off the alcohol."

He snorted. "I'm never going to sleep you off."

She ran a hand through his hair and pulled the covers up over him. Figuring he was drunk enough to not remember clearly she let an impulse take over and kissed his forehead softly. "Go to sleep."

"You gotta get naked too. I'll wake you up nice I swear."

She pulled her nightshirt up and off before taking her underwear off and sliding into bed next to him. "Happy?"

"Uh-huh," he mumbled curling up around her. She debated telling him to get off, but really didn't want to have a drunken fight. Besides that he was warm and comfortable, and she really didn't want him to move if she was honest. It wouldn't be so terrible if just for a night she pretended it would always be like this. His breathing deepened and evened out in a few seconds and she shut her eyes and drifted away too.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for the reviews and words of encouragement. I know it's cheesy, but it really did make a stressful week way better! Hopefully this chapter makes someone else's stressful week better :)**


	8. Busy Schedules

To say she was annoyed was an understatement of what she actually felt. She'd woken up Monday alone with a note from Shunsui thanking her for the hospitality and guaranteeing her no one would see him on his walk of shame. It was now Friday two weeks later and he'd been doing a wonderful job avoiding her. Besides being in the office when he knew there would be subordinates around, he always seemed to be busy. First there was some special high level mission the Soutaicho had needed him on, then Ukitake had supposedly gone through a rough patch, and then there had been birthdays and other drunken celebrations that couldn't be missed and so on. She wasn't sure what exactly had gone wrong, but he certainly didn't have any time for her.

She sighed as she finished a report and snuck a glance at him flirting with the secretaries. It was almost the end of the day and she was hoping she could corner him at some point, but it was looking like it wasn't going to happen. Her prediction came true shortly thereafter when Matsumoto flounced into their office, announced the workday was over, and dragged Kyouraku out with her to the tittering laughter of the secretaries as they packed up to leave.

Nanao sighed and finished another load of papers before she started packing up the office. One side benefit of him trying to avoid her was that he was actually completing all his work on time and late nights in the office had dwindled. The only problem was she had nothing to fill the time now. This friends with benefits thing didn't really work out that great if he was always busy. The consistent sex had ruined her. She felt like she was going to lose her mind if she had to go home one more night and take a bath by herself. She moved over to his desk and picked up his finished paperwork.

No, enough was enough. If he was already bored of having sex with her then that was fine, but he should just say it instead of avoiding her. She felt for his reiatsu and found it in one of his favorite bars in the 1st district.

She arrived quickly and made her way through the bar to a back booth where her Taicho, Ukitake, Matsumoto and a few other usual faces were just settling in to their drinking game.

"Taicho," she said sharply.

"My beautiful Nanao-chan, have you come to join us?" The group laughed. They'd been through this routine more than a few times over the years.

"You forgot some paperwork, and I need it done tonight."

"I did not!"

"Shunsui," Ukitake started to chastise.

"What? I didn't this time!" he whined.

"I need them signed now, Taicho."

"But I did everything!"

"Of course you did, Shunsui-kun," Matsumoto placated with a laugh. "Just go and do your work. This is a losing battle with Nanao-san. We'll keep the drinks cold for you."

"Now please, sir." She turned on her heel and exited the bar shunpoing back to the office quickly.

He followed in after her and crossed over to his desk lifting the stack of papers he'd finished and flipped through them. "See? I knew it! I finished them all. Nanao-chan made a mistake."

"I didn't make a mistake."

"But I finished them."

"I know that."

"But you said I didn't." Then his confused look transformed into one of understanding and quickly rolled straight on to shock. "You lied! And everyone believed you over me!" She rolled her eyes.

"Of course they did. Who would actually believe you completed your work? Which leads me to the next question of why are you completing all your work on time?"

"Did you bring me here to get mad at me for actually doing my work?" he asked genuinely surprised.

"No, I asked you here so I could figure out why you are avoiding me."

"I'm not avoiding you." He put the papers down and avoided eye contact. "I've just been busy. Like tonight those plans were set up before I could even argue."

"Alright, so I guess you have a choice now," she said crossing her arms. "You can go back and try to convince them I lied or you can spend the next hour here with me 'filling out paperwork' without them even catching on that anything is weird."

"You lied so you could have your way with me? That's pretty hot."

"Up to you. I'm not going to force you." The bitterness must have leaked into her tone, because he suddenly lost his joking demeanor.

"Nanao-chan, it's complicated."

"If you're tired of fucking me you just have to say." She held herself rigidly still and braced herself for the answer.

He closed his eyes for a moment before dropping down on the couch. "I'm not tired of having sex with you, Nanao-chan."

"Could have fooled me," she said nastily. "Whatever, go back to the bar. I'm sure there's someone there who will do what you need." With that she turned and headed for the door. Let him do whatever he wanted. It's not like she cared who he slept with. After all she was the one who had made it very clear that their relationship wasn't like that. She couldn't get mad at him for doing exactly what she'd asked. Surprisingly, despite that logic, she found she could indeed get mad about it.

"Wait," he said getting up and pushing the office door closed to stop her from leaving.

"I don't see why. It's not like we were in a relationship. You don't have to explain anything to me or make amends. If you're done, then you're done and that's ok. You don't have to avoid me. We both knew this is how this ends anyway."

"Do you want to end it?"

"What? No. You're the one who doesn't want me anymore."

"Never," he said turning her towards him in his arms. "I'll always want you. I was just trying to create some space, want you a little less."

"Why?"

"Because you don't want me the way I want you," he said cupping her face. "So I'm trying to find a balance and live with that."

"So what does that mean? We can only have sex once a month? Is there only a certain amount of time you want to spend with me? I'd like to know upfront what the new rules are."

"Yare, I don't know Nanao-chan. I'm trying to figure this out too."

"Do you want to go back to the bar?"

"No." He ran a hand through his hair and struggled to find the right words. In the end he settled for honesty. "What I really want is to have sex with you on the office couch and then take you back to my place and do it again."

"So what are we supposed to do?"

He made a frustrated noise and then pulled her to him catching her in a searing kiss. Nanao didn't waste any time pulling him in tighter and giving a little jump in order to wrap her legs around his waist. His hands came up to her ass to support her and she groaned into his mouth. She rocked herself against him and he walked them both towards the couch. Instead of dropping her on to it he twisted and sat down with her in his lap. She was delighted to find him hard and ready. She grabbed his hand without breaking the kiss and guided it inside her pants. It was only fair to let him know she was right there with him. His fingers found their way into her underwear and slid over her slick folds.

"Shunsui," she cried out as he rubbed up and over her clit and then slipped a finger inside her. She rocked her hips to meet his hand and he started kissing her throat. Another finger joined the first and she whimpered. She indulged his expert hand for a few more seconds before standing up and slipping away from his hands and mouth.

"Nanao." His voice was hoarse and needy and sent a shiver down her spine.

"Get your pants off," she said working on her own sash. He stood up and took off his clothes before taking her zanpaktou from her and placing it carefully next to his own swords on the desk. Next thing she knew he was kneeling before her and was kissing his way up her bare thigh. She buried her hands in his hair just as his tongue slipped into her and traced over her skin. A moment later his lips closed over her clit and she nearly toppled into him she was so ready and sensitive. "Stop," she panted.

To his credit he pulled away the second the word left her mouth. He looked up at her questioningly and she tugged on his shoulders urging him to his feet. "Are you ok, Nanao-chan?"

"Yes, I just want us to come together." She reached between them and gave him a swift firm stroke. He bent down from his towering height to kiss her again. Looping one hand up around his neck she kept the other hand busy.

"Stop," he said breaking the kiss. She grinned up at him, but stopped her ministrations as requested. "Unless you changed your mind?"

Nanao pushed him back until he sat down on the couch and she crawled on top of him running her hands up his muscled arms. She hovered over him on her knees not quite ready to take him in. "I missed you." It slipped out before she could think about it.

He smiled at her softly, though it didn't quite reach his eyes, and he brought his hand up to pull her head down to him again. Their lips met and she slid herself down his shaft slowly, torturing them both. He broke the kiss only to bury his face in her neck as she reached his thick base and then set a slow and steady rolling pace for them both. She felt the heat pooling low in her belly reach a tipping point.

"Are you close?" she panted, unable to see his face. "I'm so close."

"I'm always on the edge with you, Nanao-chan," he murmured in her ear. His hands ran down her back and settled on her hips stilling her movements.

"Oh, please." She was so desperate for him, and while she often enjoyed the way he lingered and drew out their encounters tonight it was not what she wanted. "Please, Shunsui." He growled at his name and his fingers bit into the flesh of her hips more tightly, grinding her against him. She arched her back and gasped. Then she tugged on his hair and pulled his face back from her neck leaning in to bite the shell of his ear. "Please," she whispered.

His hands shifted on her hips helping her lift herself up once. He thrust up as she came back down to meet him. Each time they met they moved the pace up a little faster and Nanao found herself close to falling apart in his arms again. She dug her fingers into his shoulders to try and maintain her grip on reality and match his pace. She felt like she was burning up, and oh how she'd missed this feeling with him so warm and real against her, and under her, and within her. She tried to hang on a moment longer but she felt that familiar trembling sensation run up through her and spread out to her fingertips and toes. As she clenched down on him she felt him match her shudder and spill inside her. She curled into him as the aftershocks ran through her and she felt him run his hands soothingly along her spine. She turned her head on his shoulder and kissed his collarbone. She was in no hurry to move.

Shunsui shifted underneath her a few moments later and she made a noise of protest. "They'll be wondering where I am soon enough."

"It was an awful lot of paperwork you forgot to sign," she said with a small laugh. She bit his collarbone lightly and then kissed the spot. "It might take you all night to finish it."

"I have to go back," he said softly.

"Are you serious?" She pulled back to meet his eyes. "You're serious."

"This is how this works isn't it? You don't want anyone to know about us. Unfortunately, I was a very social person before we started this and people noticed when I stopped showing up to outings. I'm not sure what else you want me to do."

She sighed and shifted up and off of him. "You're right. You should go. I shouldn't have stolen you away in the first place."

"I like being stolen away by Nanao-chan." He caught her hand before she could reach for her scattered clothes. "I'm not trying to be difficult. Tell me how you want me to handle it. They'll find out if I keep staying with you, and I didn't think you wanted that."

"I don't," she snapped. "But this was supposed to be easier, not harder than going out to the Rukongai and finding a willing man. And it wasn't meant to torture you."

"It's not torture, Nanao-chan," he said with a chuckle. "Far from it. I'll figure out my side of it, I'm a big boy, but I can't keep not showing up to things without raising questions."

"For two weeks you couldn't find a moment to yourself without someone questioning where you were?" He flinched at the question. "I guess I'll see you for another quickie in another two weeks then." She tugged herself free of his hands and started pulling on her clothes with sharp fast movements.

"Nanao, I'm sorry. I'll plan my time better. I have plans with Jyuushiro tomorrow night that I can cancel. We can meet at whoever's house is convenient for you."

"I don't want a pity fuck," she snarled. She tied her sash rather harshly and headed towards the door. She threw it open despite his nakedness. There was really very little chance of anyone still being in the office at this hour. "You can go now."

He sighed but got to his feet reaching for his own clothing. He dressed slowly and her irritation notched up higher. How dare he make her seem like the unreasonable one.

"Nanao-chan," he said quietly once he was fully clothed again. "I would really really like to see you tomorrow night."

"I'm busy," she said spitefully. "So don't cancel your plans on my behalf." He sighed again, but didn't argue as he shuffled past her.

* * *

Nanao was bored. She really hadn't wanted to spend her night researching ancient kido spells, but she'd told her Taicho she was busy, so busy she would be. The librarians had long since gone home, but she'd spent enough late nights in here that she had her own set of keys. The librarians knew she wouldn't make a mess, always put everything back, and never forgot to lock up so she was allowed to stay after hours. She tried to focus on another long archaic passage when she felt a familiar reiatsu over her shoulder.

"I wouldn't waste time on that," Kyouraku said squinting down on the page. "It was always a faulty spell. Only worked about 60% of the time."

"There you go pointing out your old age again," she commented nastily flipping the page.

"You wound me Nanao-chan." He put a hand over his heart and dropped into the seat next to her. "I was only trying to be of some help."

"What do you want Taicho?"

"I was hoping to spend the evening with my Nanao-chan."

"I'm not yours, and I told you I was busy."

"I can see that. But perhaps you could put this off for another night? The spells will still be there tomorrow."

"Yes, just like the bars you frequent will be there tomorrow, nonetheless you still need to go to them every night." She tired to ignore the fact that she sounded like a bitter neglected girlfriend even to her own ears.

He huffed his displeasure and she kept her eyes firmly on the page in front of her. She wanted him to go. He wasn't supposed to make everything about this arrangement difficult. It was supposed to be easy, safe, and satisfying. Instead she was more stressed out by the whole thing than she'd ever been sneaking out of the Seireitei late in the night to find a man. She reread the same paragraph and cursed internally. She nearly jumped out of her seat when she felt his warm hand on her thigh.

"What do you think you're doing, sir?" she asked tersely.

"I just want to help Nanao-chan relax so she can focus on her studies." His hand stroked down her thigh to her knee and up again, stopping short of the juncture of her legs.

"I'm fine, sir," she snapped flipping the page violently. "You can go."

"I know when Nanao-chan is tense." His fingers massaged her thigh and she fought the instinct to squirm. "You'll never get anything done if you're this tightly wound." His fingers caressed her through her pants and she shot to her feet.

"I'm going to get another book. You might as well leave. This could take all night." She marched away and grabbed a random book a few shelves down. She didn't have any real plan for the night beyond ignoring him. She'd outlasted him in the library for years so it should be effective tonight too. Then again he also hadn't been allowed to touch her back then. She walked back to the table and grit her teeth when she found him still lounging in his seat shooting her a relaxed smile. She dropped the book on the table with a bang and took a minute to silently chastise herself for abusing the poor book when her Taicho was the one who deserved it.

"Why are you still here?"

"The night is young and I want to spend it with you."

"Well then make yourself useful and see if you can find some original kido spells in this book." She passed him the old dusty tome and smiled when he sneezed. She focused back on her own book. It lasted all of a few minutes before she felt his hand fall on her knee. She glared at him and shook him off.

"Nanao-chan, can we please do this another night? I feel like I'm back in the academy studying for a test."

She snorted at that. "Like you studied for tests. Ukitake Taicho said you just coasted by on natural ability."

"There are worse things," he said with a shrug dropping his arm along the back of her chair. She shoved it off and he grinned. "I would, however, study if a pretty girl asked me to."

"Well I don't need you to study, and I didn't ask you to. You should go home or call Ukitake Taicho and re-instate your plans."

"I'm fine here, Nanao-chan." She made a noise of frustration and went back to her reading. He'd get bored soon enough.

A few minutes later she felt his hand on her knee again and this time she resolutely ignored it. It stayed where it was and she continued trying to read. It wasn't long before his fingers started walking their way up her inner thigh. She debated smacking him away, but figured it would just encourage his teasing in his current mood. His fingers slipped in between her thighs and she tried not to clamp her legs down around his hand. He was like a dog just wanting attention. Ignoring him would be far more effective than pushing him away. He stroked her lightly and she bit her lip and tried to focus on the page in front of her. He increased the pressure of his touches and she resolutely jotted down a note, trying to ignore the slow burn building in her belly.

"Nanao-chan, can we please leave the library?" he asked quietly as his fingers played with her through her pants. "I promise I'll help you with your research tomorrow."

"Sir, I told you I was busy tonight and not to change your plans. I don't need your help. Go home."

His hand moved away from her and she thought that he was about to give in before it slipped inside her pants and gave her a soft stroke through her underwear, grazing over her clit at the end. She breathed in sharply and grabbed his wrist. He stilled and watched her face calmly for a sign to continue or back off.

"We're in a library."

"And? It's not like there are any librarians around to catch us."

"Just because no one is going to catch you, doesn't mean you should do something."

"It doesn't mean you shouldn't do it either." He started moving his hand against her again and she was sure he could feel how wet she was even through her underwear.

"That's barely even an argument." One of his fingers slipped past the cloth barrier and slid inside her and she rocked her hips forward instinctually. He slipped his free arm around her waist and dragged her over into his lap with her back to his front. She squirmed as he continued his ministrations and she could feel his erection pressing into her backside through their clothes. The hand he'd used to pull her over reached around to cup her breast and pull her more firmly against him. He rocked his hips up into her as he slid a second finger in and she let her head drop back against his shoulder.  
"Better argument?"  
"No," she growled trying to pull her senses back under her own command. "I'm still angry at you."

"I said I was sorry."

"This was supposed to be convenient for both of us, not just you."

His hands pulled away from her and she felt a small tremble run through her at the loss. "Nanao-chan, I really am sorry. I tried to compensate for having not been out and I went too far the other way."

"You were avoiding me," she corrected.

"And I was avoiding you," he conceded. "Sometimes you have to go cold turkey from something just to prove you still can."

"And did two weeks serve to prove what you needed it to?"

"Something like that," he murmured into her hair.

She twisted in his lap so that she was straddling him. "So what do you want to do?"

"I would think that would be obvious." He shifted underneath her with a smirk.

"Besides that," she said ignoring his joking. "Do you want to add ground rules for this?"

"Can we talk about this later, Nanao-chan? It's not exactly my main focus right now."

"Does later mean later tonight or later in two weeks when you deign to seek me out again?"

"I promise not to avoid you again. I just can't focus on rules right now with you pressing into me that way."

She snorted. "You can't focus on rules ever."

"That too." He smiled at her and she rocked in his lap.

"We shouldn't do this in the library."

"Because it's against the rules?" He quirked an eyebrow at her and tugged on the shoulder of her uniform, granting himself access to the skin there. He kissed her shoulder. "We've already established I'm not good at those."

She cupped his face in her hands and debated staying angry at him. It didn't seem worth it though. She'd already made her irritation clear and it was almost impossible to shift his focus when he wasn't in the mood to be shifted. Besides that she wasn't particularly in the mood to talk anymore either. Leaning down towards him she kissed him deeply and didn't protest when his hands came up to wrap around her.

They broke the kiss and she stood up from his lap tugging her top over her head and pulling at her sash to let her pants fall. Shunsui stood and mirrored her actions, and she let a soft smile grace her lips.

"What?"

"I've just had this fantasy before."

"The library? Really, Nanao-chan?"

"Is it really that surprising?" she asked losing her undergarments. "All the late nights I've been cooped up here researching things and you think the thought has never crossed my mind?"

"I'd have come and hung out more often if I thought it had."

"I didn't say you were the other piece of that fantasy. Even I'm not imaginative enough to assume you'd stay late for work."

"Yeah? Who'd you have in mind Nanao-chan?"

"The librarian Oguri-san is very attractive."

"The little guy with the buck teeth?"

"He does not have buck teeth," she said, but couldn't stop her laugh from bubbling over.

"He does too have buck teeth." Shunsui reached for her and ran a hand up her side. "I'd be scared he'd bite me when he was trying to kiss me." Her hand slipped down his chest and grazed over his abdomen. He grumbled when she raised it back up to his waist chastely. "So what does Oguri-san do in these fantasies of yours?" His hand cupped her and his fingers toyed with her again.

She braced her hands on his shoulders as his thumb glided over her clit. "It doesn't matter. This is good."

"No, really, I want to know. Does Oguri-san take you in the librarian's chair? Or maybe against the bookshelves?"

She pulled his head down to her and kissed him. "On his haori on the floor."

"Oh? Is Oguri-san prone to wearing a haori?"

"Mmm-hmm," she lied.

"Huh, you'd think I'd have noticed that," he said pulling away from her. He walked over to his discarded pile of clothes and pulled his haori free from it spreading it across the floor.

He sat down on the haori and grinned up at her. "What's he do next?"

She crossed over to him and sat down in his lap straddling him and pressing his hot straining erection between their bodies. His hands cupped her ass and she wiggled against him. "He tells me I work too hard and convinces me to spend my time another way."

"He's a very brave man. Most people are too scared to tell Nanao-chan she needs to stop working. Then what happens?"

"He distracts me."

"How?"

"With his hands and his mouth to start."

His hands slid up over her body and his lips trapped hers. She pressed more firmly against him as their tongues dueled for dominance. She rubbed her slick folds against his cock and tried to maintain focus as his hand slipped up to grasp her breast and he tilted his pelvis to run against her clit.

"And then what?"

"It changes," she said, "depending on my mood."

"And this Oguri-san knows you well enough to determine your moods?"

"Shut up." She reached down and grasped his dick and started stroking him roughly. "Ask what you want to ask."

"Am I the man in your fantasies, Nanao-chan?"

"Of course you are. Ridiculous as that may be."

He laughed at that and lifted her up and off of him. "Does that mean I should read your mood, Nanao-chan?"

"Can you?" He turned her in his hands so her back was to him. She turned her head to glance at him over her shoulder with a small smirk. "Well?"

A firm hand on her back bent her forward on to her hands and knees. She curved her back in a stretch meant to entice him and was pleased when he bent down to overwhelm her small form and suck on the weak point at her throat. She loved the feel of him pressed up against her, all hard muscle fitting into every curve. His strong thighs pressed against her backside as the tip of his erection ran along her slit and made her shudder. One hand supported his weight and the other came up to her chest to pull her back against him and then stroke down to her hip moving her in a slow rock against him.

"This doing the trick?"

"Not quite," she said hoarsely as heat ran through her veins. "Please."

He kissed along her spine before rearing back and plunging in to her. The tip of his penis hit her end and she gasped against the rough thrust throwing her head back. His fingers curved down to make a v around where they were joined and he pressed his palm against her clit making her cry out at the firm pressure within and without.

"Better?"

She murmured an affirmative and bounced her hips to get her impatience across. Shunsui pulled out of her to the tip and then pressed back into her. She fought against her arms collapsing underneath her. His warm breath trailed along her ear and she matched him as he moved to thrust again. He surrounded her and filled her and she had to admit that her library fantasies had never been as good as this.

He kissed her shoulder and kept moving, increasing the pace as their breath labored to keep up. His palm pressed and released against her in time and she felt that tight heat coiling deeply inside her. She cried out as he filled her again.

"You feel so good. So wet and wanting," he muttered absentmindedly and she felt herself get even wetter at his words. His approval just made her want to give him more.

He bit down on her shoulder bordering the line between pain and pleasure and she felt her inner walls tighten up around him as the tight heat spread out from her center to the tips of her fingers and toes. She gasped and groaned as her body convulsed around him. Her arms weakened and she let her face press against her arms on the floor as his hardened member continued to thrust inside her. The heat redoubled at her core and she pushed her raised lower half against him.

"I want you to come with me," he said as his hand slipped up and his fingers caressed her clit harshly. "I want you to come again."

"Yes," she panted hoarsely as her face moved against her sweat slicked forearms. It didn't take long before they both dropped over the edge of pleasure again. His weight settled warmly on her back for a moment as they laid on the floor spent, and his lips kissed a sweet line over her shoulder before he rolled off of her. He reached over and tucked her into his side.

"Better than Oguri-san?"

"Shut up," she laughed and jabbed him in the side with her elbow.

"We can go again, if it wasn't up to par."

She propped herself up on an elbow and leaned over his chest looking down at him. "It was up to par. We really do need to talk about the new rules."

He sighed. She knew he was trying to get her to forget about it, but she could be a dog with a bone when she wanted to be. She wasn't about to spend another two weeks like she'd spent the last two. This was supposed to be easier.

"I don't have any rules to give you."

"You clearly have a problem with the current arrangement."

"There's not much we can do about that," he said reaching up to tuck a piece of loose hair behind her ear as she hovered over him. "I want a relationship with you that goes beyond sex. You aren't willing to give it. I can either walk away, which I'm not prepared to do yet, or you can change how you feel, which I don't assume is easy or will necessarily ever happen. It's a stalemate."

"Yet? Do you have a timeframe of when you're going to want to walk away?" She tried to look uninterested as she ran the fingers of her right hand through the hair on his chest. It'd be a lie to say she wouldn't be disappointed if he walked away. The sex was amazing and it was nice having a partner who knew her so well and was invested in her happiness. Shunsui was always more than eager to make sure she was getting off and delighted in discovering new ways to make her cry his name. Furthermore she enjoyed figuring out what made him lose control in return. It'd be tough to go back to strangers after him. If she was honest she also enjoyed their flirtations and the time they'd been spending together even if it was always with sex in mind.

"I don't know, sweetheart. All I know right now is that if you want this to last a bit longer I can't spend every night with you without people putting it together."

She glanced back up at him and met his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't have any right to be upset about that. You're free to do anything with your time that you want. I'd just been spoiled having you all to myself."

He grinned at that and pressed up on his elbows to catch her in a quick sweet kiss. "You and me both."

She hesitated before making her next request. She didn't really have any right to ask. "I'd like to add a rule if you're not opposed to it." He lifted an eyebrow in question and laid back down beneath her. "It's just the other night you said that woman was trying to take you home." She glanced at him nervously, but he was just watching her with an unreadable expression. "And well, I just thought, really for safety reasons, that maybe, it might be better if we didn't sleep with other people. I don't want a disease after all and neither do you. If that's too much though, I totally understand, although I think we should at least warn each other if we have and get tested again."

"Ok."

"Ok?" she asked stopping her rambling. "Ok to which one?"

"Ok, we should only sleep with each other," he said. "It makes the most sense and takes down on the need for doctor visits. As long as we're doing this, I won't have sex with other people and neither will you."

She smiled. "If you think that's best."

"I do." He sat up and pulled her into his lap kissing her soundly. "Any other library fantasies, Nanao-chan?"

"Mainly just a lot of different positions."

"I think we can handle that."

* * *

 **A/N: I hope the length makes up for the delay! As always reviews make my day. Also if you haven't checked out my fluffy one-shot for these two yet, "Halloween Treats" you should ;) #ShamelessSelfPromotion**


	9. Interrupted Sleep

"There's a new restaurant opening up tomorrow in the 1st District if you want to check it out."

"I can't tomorrow," Shunsui said taking another sip of his sake. "What about next weekend?"

"What are you up to tomorrow?" Shunsui gave Jyuushiro a look and Jyuushiro groaned. "Ise-san?"

"Don't say her name in such a disappointed tone," Shunsui chastised lightly. His friend either avoided the topic altogether or was completely unable to hide his dislike of the situation when forced into talking about it.

"I like Ise-san. You know I do."

"But?"

"But she's using you and it's only going to end poorly."

"She's been upfront about what she's looking for. She's never implied it's anything more."

"And yet you keep holding out hope."

"I'll always hope with her," he said with a rueful grin. "She's brilliant, and beautiful, and makes me better. And I think I make her better too. Besides that we have excellent sex."

"Don't be flippant."

"I don't know what answer you want, Jyuu." They both went silent for a few moments and Shunsui contemplated the stars starting to come out in the dusk. "She asked to be exclusive a month ago."

"Really? What did she say exactly?"

"That we shouldn't sleep with other people while we were sleeping together."

"Shunsui." His tone was disappointed, but Shunsui hadn't expected any other reaction from his best friend.

"I know it's not perfect, but it's a start, and I'm patient."

"You're going to get hurt."

"I'm a big boy," he defended. "I can choose to take that risk."

"Ise-san is young. She doesn't understand what it is to break someone's heart. She won't do it on purpose, but I know you, and she will.

"Maybe it's worth the break."

"You could have sex with anyone. Why does it have to be her when she's offering so little?"

"I love her."

"I know you do," he said and let out a long breath. "So next weekend then?"

* * *

"Nanao-chan?"

"Hmmm?"

"Are you awake?"

"I am now," she said sleepily turning over in her bed. "What are you doing here?" She yawned and tried to make him out in the dark without her glasses on. She'd given him a key three days ago, but hadn't expected him to use it so soon. The only reason she'd given it to him in the first place was because he'd come over when she was in the shower and couldn't get in when she hadn't heard him knocking. Her elderly neighbor had made a comment about leaving handsome men outside your door for long periods of time and she'd thought it best to just give him the key so as to draw less attention to himself if it ever happened again.

"I was drinking with Jyuushiro," he offered.

"I didn't ask what you were doing," she commented around another yawn. "I asked what you were doing here."

"The moon is beautiful and I thought you might want to go see it with me."

She laughed a little at that. "No thanks. I'm happy asleep in my warm little bed. Now if that's all, I'm going to get back to it."

"But Nanao-chan!"

She tugged the covers back next to her. "You can stay if you'll shut up and go to sleep." It was the quickest way to get back to sleep and probably his end goal anyway.

Shunsui was quick to shed his clothes and slip into bed with her. His warm flesh pressed up against hers and she heard him draw in a fast surprised breath. "You're naked, Nanao-chan."

She shrugged. "A bit of a double standard to be commenting on that when you just got into my bed naked. Sometimes I like sleeping nude."

"I like it too," he commented stroking a hand down her front and up over the outside of her thigh. "I think you should do it always."

"The stipulation of you being in this bed was shutting up."

He chuckled, but otherwise quieted down. Nanao was almost drifting back into sleep when she felt his finger gently slip between her thighs, part her folds, and start up tender touches. She ignored it thinking he might believe her asleep and do the same. His caresses continued soft, and slow, and light for a few minutes and she cursed her traitorous body as she felt herself get wet for him and that dark heat start up low in her belly. A finger slipped inside her and her hips bucked to meet it. His hand slipped away from her and she gave a sleepy frustrated growl. Shifting quietly behind her she felt his hard erection press between her thighs and create a delicious friction as it rubbed through her slippery labia. He pressed his front tightly up against her back and brought a hand up to cup one of her breasts as he ran himself between her legs.

She bucked back a little harder hoping it would encourage him to speed up and enter her. Instead he released her breast and reached to turn her head back towards him, and she opened her eyes to meet his intense grey eyes over her shoulder. He kissed her firmly and slid his hand back down thrusting fingers into her vagina as he continued his slow strokes between her thighs. She groaned and debated demanding he provide the real thing, but she couldn't seem to break away from the kiss long enough to do anything of the sort. She rode his hand and his cock and when he finally released her from the kiss he pulled his fingers free from her and brought them up to her mouth. She sucked the taste of her own desire off of them and he groaned into her throat thrusting a bit more frantically.

"Are you really not going to come inside me?" He shrugged silently in response. "You can talk," she said remembering her earlier admonishment.

"Ask me to."

She blushed at that. He liked hearing her make the request for things she wanted. Not really begging, just asking for something that would please her. Something about her talking dirty always got him riled.

"I want your hard cock inside me," she said feeling him shudder. "I want to feel your hot release and I want you to stay buried in me until dawn. Then I want to wake up with you already hard inside me and do it all over again."

"Fuck, Nanao," he panted and his fingers v-ed to spread her wide before his dick pressed up against her opening. He paused there and she squirmed on his tip.

"I need you inside me. All of you, root to tip." She called out as he pressed into her, filling her and bringing her down to the end of his cock.

"You're so tight, Nanao. You're the most wonderful hot, wet, tightness I've ever and the pleasure of entering."

"I bet you say that to all your partners," she taunted breathlessly as he started up a rhythm.

"Have you ever had a cock fit you so perfectly?" he demanded. "It's like we were tailor made for each other. I've had virgins looser than you." He paused fully sheathed in her and she had to admit no one had ever filled her up as seamlessly as he did.

She trailed her hand down touching them both where they were connected and sending shockwaves through their bodies. She traced her finger around her opening encircling the base of his penis. "Never quite like this," she confessed.

"Come on," he said pulling out of her and she whimpered at the loss of contact.

"Where?"

He grabbed her hand and helped her out of bed while flipping on the side table lamp. Her legs wobbled weakly underneath her from the lust running through her and she didn't think she'd survive a long trip without completion. Luckily he just led her over to her full length mirror and softly pressed her to her knees in front of it. He knelt behind her and his hands slipped up and over her body cupping both of her breasts as he nibbled on her neck.

"Shunsui, what are we doing?"

He gave her dark desire filled eyes in the mirror and reached down to spread her open again lewdly. His hard staff came up and he buried his thick tip in her and then stopped, looking up to make sure she was watching in the mirror. He entered her slowly inch by inch and the picture their reflection made was obscene and glorious all at once. She couldn't have torn her gaze away if she wanted to. When he was fully seated in her his hand shifted from opening her wide to stroking her clit while the other kept giving her breast attention.

"Stop," she panted reaching for the hand paying with her clit. "I want to see." He chuckled and it vibrated through her body, but he obliged by spreading her lips wide again and thrusting in and out of her. He pulled out completely a few times and she shuddered every time she saw his flushed, engorged tip soaked with her juices enter her again. She'd never been someone that particularly got off on watching or reading porn. All her liaisons had happened in the dark and she'd never felt the need to see more. She found it curious that she couldn't seem to get enough of this. Watching him disappear into her body was heady.

"You're so beautiful it's hard to bear," he mumbled in her ear. She said nothing to that, but reached her arm back to wrap behind his neck and pull him even closer if that was possible. She'd argued a compliment once when they were having sex and he'd stopped completely and told her that he clearly didn't need to butter her up or lie to her in their current arrangement so couldn't she just accept an honest compliment at face value? She'd been so close to climaxing she'd have agreed to anything at the time to get him moving again. When they were done though he'd brought it up once more. She'd had to concede that his case was a strong one. He didn't need to compliment her to have sex with her, so she'd agreed not to be so difficult on that front. If he thought she was beautiful, who was she to talk him out of it? He groaned her name and she smiled, she much preferred that to compliments.

She felt her impending orgasm build, coiling in her belly, and thrust back on to him more quickly. "Shunsui, I'm so close." He kissed her temple and angled himself better for her pleasure. She gasped and felt herself tighten, coming up against the edge. She tried to keep her eyes open so she could watch. She'd never seen herself come before. Glancing up she saw Shunsui watching her expression intensely in the mirror as he thrust into her and the worship in his eyes affected her more than she expected it to. Her orgasm hit her hard and she convulsed around him over and over again, arching her back, and calling out his name. He came a moment later, shooting warm liquid heat into her core and she shuddered against him as a softer orgasm rippled through her at the feel of it.

They slumped against each other as the sweat cooled on their skin. "Well that was a new one."

He chuckled and shifted slipping out of her. "You liked it though?"

"It was different."

"So you're saying we should never have sex like that again?" He smiled and stood up scooping her relaxed body into his arms.

"I didn't say that." She allowed him to carry her to the bathroom and leaned against the shower wall when he lowered her gently to her feet. He reached out and turned the water on warm and low. She watched him with sleepy eyes staying in the corner and out of the main spray. He wet down a washcloth and started wiping it softly over her skin. She sighed happily and let her eyes drift shut. "Giving you a key was worth it." His hand slide over the juncture of her thighs cleaning their love making from her legs and center and she arched and gasped.

"You are delightfully sensitive," he said crowding her against the wall.

"Didn't used to be," she muttered as her hips involuntarily started rocking against his washcloth covered hand. The fabric created and interesting sensation. "It's different with you."

"Different good or bad?"

"Fishing for compliments," she chastised and gave a breathy little noise on a particularly good stroke.

"So what if I am?" He increased the pressure slightly and rubbed her in time to her slow thrusting hips.

A new kind of orgasm from the one she'd had earlier flowed through her body and she made a mewling noise she wasn't sure she'd ever produced before as her toes curled against the tile. "Definitely different good," she said smiling at him.

He grinned back and finished wiping her clean before quickly rubbing himself down and jumping out of the shower. She took the towel he handed her and rubbed down before make a small noise of protest when he swept her off her feet again and carried her back to her bed. Plucking the towel from her hands once he set her down he went back to the bathroom to hang it up and by the time he was crawling into the bed beside her she was halfway asleep.

Shunsui settled down and she rolled over curling into his warm body. She felt him place a kiss on the crown of her head and she sighed. She really should be kicking him out, but she wasn't in the mood for an argument now, and honestly she didn't think it was fair to the man who'd just given her intense orgasms. Also she didn't particularly want to. She'd kick him out in the morning, unless he was in the mood for another go, and he was usually in the mood for anything she requested. Sometimes he was even in the mood for things she didn't know she should request, like tonight. Smiling she wrapped her arm around his waist.

"Definitely different good," she mumbled and then let sleep take her away.

* * *

 **A/N: Well I'm not sure how to react to the latest chapter. For now I'm ignoring it, because honestly if they're related Kubo is gross for implying the romance in the first place with that weird Valentine's Day omake. Also it'll suck because I have this fic mostly done other than editing and we're like only halfway through, but cannon is about to make it nasty. So yeah for now I'm ignoring until it's revealed one way or another. Even then I might pretend I never read it. Guess I'll be all alone in this ship :(**


	10. A Night Out

"You'll both have to fight for the invite," Matsumoto cooed at Hisagi and Izuru. "It really is going to be so much fun. It'd be a shame to miss it."

Nanao snorted as she handed her column for the Seireitei Communication off to the secretary. She had a very good idea what Matsumoto was using as leverage. The SWA had voted to use some of the excess funds from their successful bake sale a few months ago to have an outing in the living world and had gotten it approved by the Soutiacho. They'd planned an evening of drinking and dancing and were each allowed to invite one guest. It was always fun to visit the living world with no duties involved so Nanao could understand how it would be a powerful bargaining chip.

"So what are each of you willing to do?" Matsumoto asked flirtatiously.

"Hisagi-san?" Nanao called. He turned his head away from the current conversation and focused on her. "Would you like to go to the living world with me and go dancing tomorrow night? The SWA is hosting an event."

He smiled at her and Matsumoto frowned. "I'd be delighted Ise-san."

"Nanao-chan, way to ruin all my fun! I was definitely going to get at least a few bottles of sake out of them for this."

Nanao shrugged. "I wanted Hisagi-san to attend with me. If you wanted him to go with you you should have asked first."

Matsumoto pouted and put her hands on her hips. "Won't Kyouraku Taicho be upset if you're taking someone else?

Nanao felt herself bristle at that. "No more so than he ever is when I ignore him."

"Yeah, but it's sort of like a date this time. He'll be devastated."

Nanao arched an eyebrow at her. "Kyouraku Taicho and I are not involved. I am free to invite whoever I wish to the event."

"Whatever you say, Nanao-chan. So Kira-kun what'll you do to get to go?"

Nanao shook her head and headed out. She hadn't really planned on inviting anyone, but at least Hisagi would be pleasant company for the evening. Prior to overhearing that conversation she wasn't sure she was going to attend at all if she could think of an appropriate way out, but it wouldn't be so bad if she could have a few glasses of wine with Hisagi and then head home.

"Ise-san, wait up." Nanao paused on the street waiting for Hisagi to catch up with her. "Are you sure this is ok?"

She shot him a quizzical look. "Am I sure what's ok?"

"You know," he said gesturing between them. "Are you sure it's ok that you invited me to the SWA outing?"

"Oh, not you too," she sighed.

"Are you not still sleeping with him?"

"I told you, its just sex."

"Still?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I just," Hisagi started and the rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean it's been a while now. I guess I figured at some point you'd probably-"

"Probably what?" she snapped.

"I don't know. I guess I assumed somewhere deep down you did have some feelings for him."

"I do. We're friends. I care about him, but not like that. This is exactly why I didn't want to go public with it. We're not dating and I'm free to spend my time with whomever I see fit. Despite what everyone seems to think he doesn't own me."

Hisagi looked appropriately chastised at that. "That's not what I meant. And if it makes you feel better, Kyouraku Taicho has never said anything of the sort in my presence or anyone else's I've ever heard of."

"He never had to. Everyone just assumes he owns me no matter what he does. He could fuck half the Seireitei in front of everyone and they'd still assume I'm his property. Do you know how chafing that can be?"

"I'm sorry. I went about this all wrong. As long as you wouldn't prefer someone else's company I'd love to go dancing with you," he said with a weak smile.

"Good, I'll meet you at the Senkaimon gate tomorrow at 8 PM. We're leaving from there." Nanao turned on her heel and headed back to her own division.

She tried to ignore how irritated she was. It was absolutely ridiculous the way people tiptoed around whatever they thought her and Shunsui's relationship was. She had the right to have other interests. She had the right to have other men if she so chose. Regardless of how enjoyable the sex had been between them, he did not own her. What bothered her more than anything was that, to Hisagi's point, Shunsui had never done anything actively to claim her other than flirt ridiculously. For the life of her she couldn't figure out when everyone had decided that they were soul mates or whatever other silly rumors they whispered. The only silver lining to today was that she knew Shunsui already had plans tonight and wouldn't be bugging her when she was in such a mood. She'd be even more annoyed if he were to show up this evening and do something that would make her forget how annoyed she was. He had a particular gift for that.

* * *

"I think I should be insulted you know," a voice whispered low in her ear.

"And why is that?"

"I practically had to beg Retsu-san for an invitation when my first choice so clearly passed on me."

"I was under no obligation to invite you, Taicho."

"I would hope if you did it would not be an obligation, Nanao-chan. And might I say you look lovely this evening?"

Nanao tugged on the edge of her red dress. It was flattering without being flashy or particularly revealing, but it definitely clung in the right ways. She ignored his compliment. "How did you even know about this event?"

"Jyuu was invited by his sweet third seat," Shunsui said easily. She turned around to face him and gave him a once over. There was no denying he was an attractive man in black pants and a white button down. He'd forgone his usual pink and his hair was tied back with just a solid black band. If there wasn't an audience amassing she'd have reached out and touched the skin exposed by the undone buttons at the top of his shirt. Then again if there wasn't a crowd she'd probably do a lot more than that. She shook that thought away before her hand betrayed her. It was obnoxious how much he could affect her. "I was rather hoping you'd invite me, but then Ran-chan said you stole her fun and invited Hisagi-kun. While I appreciate helping a friend out, I can't say I wasn't disappointed."

"I'd never planned to invite you anyway," she said with a shrug.

"I've gone with you to SWA events before."

"That was then, this is now," she retorted looking around for Hisagi. She'd kill him if he was late. She really didn't want to be having this conversation, and if Hisagi wasn't coming she was going to go home.

Shunsui sighed. "So we'll never be able to just have fun together again because we're sleeping with one another?"

Nanao felt her neck pinch at how fast she turned back to hiss at him to be quiet. Looking around she didn't think anyone was close enough to have heard his low comment, but that wasn't a risk she was willing to take. "What is wrong with you?"

"No one heard. Just answer the question."

"We have plenty of fun," she said disdainfully shifting in her heels. Such impractical shoes, she should have worn flats.

"You know what I'm asking."

"Ise-san! Sorry I'm late." Nanao smiled as Hisagi jogged up to them.

"It's no problem," she said with a warm smile. He could be forgiven for being late when he had such impeccable timing. "I think we finally have everyone." She glanced around and added up the people in her head. "We should get going." Veering off she weaved through the small crowd to tell the kido corps members they could open the gate. The men got to it and Nanao watched as their group started to pile through. Unohana and Kyouraku led the way and she shifted her eyes when he tried to catch her gaze.

"Shall we?" Hisagi gave her a short bow as the last of the group went through the gate and offered her his arm with a cheeky smile. She laughed at his flattery and reached out to take it.

"I guess so."

"You look great tonight," Hisagi commented. "Dressing to impress little old me?"

"Oh, you know it," she said with a laugh, happy to move on to lighter topics and forget her conversation with Shunsui. "Think I'm going to get lucky tonight?"

"I don't think luck would have anything to do with it if you wanted to take someone home tonight."

"Flatterer. I knew I invited you for a reason."

"I thought the reason you invited me was to ruin Rangiku-chan's little game."

"Well that too," she agreed laughing.

"She'll get you back for that someday you know."

"Oh, she already knows it was me getting her back for pitching the whole stupid idea of this night out dancing. We're even now."

"What did you want to do instead?'

"I thought the money should go to the Academy's scholarship fund for women."

"Very responsible."

"I was clearly overruled. I don't even know why they bothered making me the Vice President when I'm obviously the only one who thinks we should actually help promote Shinigami women."

"I thought the SWA has given a lot of money back to the Academy and women's groups."

"We do, but it's mainly because I lie about the profits from most events, or the few rare times I can get the responsible members to vote my way. There was no way I was winning out on a living world outing though, and once Matsumoto-san brought up bringing dates it was over."

"Well for my selfish sake I'm pleased the vote went against you."

"The SMA doesn't afford for fun outings?" she asked with a smirk.

"Iba-san is still just trying to find enough funds for the club to even exist," he chuckled, "but I'm guessing you already knew that considering the way you like to torture him about it."

"He deserves it," she said with a shrug. "Who needs a Shinigami men's association? Just look around, all of the Seireitei is a men's club."

"Everyone was always surprised Ukitake Taicho couldn't convinced Kyouraku Taicho to join."

"Ukitake Taicho tried to convince him on Iba's behalf. I told Kyouraku Taicho that he was free to join if he wanted to, so don't look at me like that."

"But did you say it in the tone that implied he would die if he did so?"

"I have no idea what tone you're talking about. My Taicho is free to join any club he wishes." She was very aware of the tone and had most definitely used it when she'd overheard Ukitake trying to persuade him. Kyouraku had laughed and told Ukitake he nearly always avoided a battle when he could, and this would be one of those. Then he'd told her that since all his friends were busy with a club he wouldn't join he'd need company for the evening and wouldn't she accompany him to dinner? She'd acquiesced that time to give him some positive reinforcement for making the smart choice.

"You really are just as bad as him." They stepped out into the safe house in the living world and everyone started collecting their gigais.

"Excuse you," she huffed. "Iba-san and I are nothing alike."

"I meant you and Kyouraku Taicho."

Nanao snorted. "This should be good. Explain."

"You both control each other's lives without even thinking about it. He may have scared off the male populace with all his flirting and insinuations, but it goes both ways. Everyone knows Kyouraku Taicho doesn't make a move without you."

"Yeah, right."

"It's true. Even if he chooses to ignore it, everyone knows he'll at least take into account how you'll react."

"With work things, of course. He knows he'd be screwed if I transferred," she said as she pulled the gigai on. It was always an unusual sensation stepping into those bodies.

"With life things too," Hisagi countered. "I know you've dragged him home from bars before when we've all gotten out of hand, but you don't know how many times over the years he's left early because you needed something from him the next day or had seriously asked him not to stay out. I know more than a few pissed off females who were trying to bag a Taicho only to get shot down because of you. And the few times you have come out with us, when he's begged and pleaded, have any women been dumb enough to approach?"

"Sure they have," Nanao argued. She tried to think back over the years. She'd really only agreed to getting a drink with her Taicho and his friends a handful of times. The first couple times a few women had approached, but come to think of it, anytime in the last fifty or so years no one had tried anything with her Taicho when she was out with him. "So maybe not recently, but that doesn't mean anything."

"All I'm saying is that you have a lot of influence on his personal life too. I never had anything to do with Tousen's finances, or household help, or healer appointments. Kotetsu-san told me once you literally set his 4th appointments up, drag him in for them, wait in the waiting room while they happen, and then manage all his medical paperwork and any medication that needs to be administered."

Nanao blushed at that and felt her gigai's cheeks warm. Stupid contraption. "It's only because he wouldn't do it on his own."

"He did it for a few hundred years before you were his Fukutaicho."

"He did it poorly for a few hundred years before I was there," she defended.

"Nanao-san, you went shopping with him for his bedroom furniture two years ago when that 11th division fight got out of control and wrecked the side of his house and his room."

"So what? He'd have slept on the floor with the wall busted down if I'd let him." Besides she'd picked out an extremely comfortable bed that she'd been enjoying very much recently. Not that that had been her thought process at the time. At the time she just hadn't wanted him to get sick essentially sleeping outside in his bedroom and force her to not only nurse him better, but also deal with everything in the office.

"Nanao-san, I didn't even know Tousen's exact home address, and I'm guessing most of the Fukutaicho's wouldn't know their Taicho's either."

"That's only because the other Taichos actually show up to work."

Hisagi held up his hands in defeat. "You'll have an excuse for everything, and honestly I don't care what you do. I'm just saying there isn't one person in the Seireitei that thinks Kyouraku Taicho is a free agent."

She opened her mouth to argue, but Hisagi grabbed Renji's arm as he went to pass them with Rukia. "Renji, Kyouraku Taicho said there's a good strip club around the corner from the place we're going and that he can get our stay extended and we should head over later. Are you interested?"

Renji looked flustered as hell glancing between Hisagi, Nanao, and Rukia. For her part, Rukia looked like she was waiting to tear him a new one based on his answer. "Um, I think I'd rather not. Early day tomorrow, you know?"

"Tomorrow is Saturday," Hisagi countered with a grin.

"All the same, I think I'm good not going," Renji said looking relieved as Rukia relaxed next to him. Then he glanced at Nanao. "Are you really ok with him going, Nanao-san?"

"Hisagi-san is free to do whatever he wants."

"I meant Kyouraku Taicho."

Nanao wanted to scream in frustration and knock the smug smile off Hisagi's face. Instead she stilled her face and said coldly, "Kyouraku Taicho is also free to do whatever and whomever he wants." Rukia frowned and Nanao put an end to the conversation "Shall we go? Everyone is headed out."

The group started to move and Nanao ignored Kyouraku as he held the door open for everyone passing through. He probably would have made a comment of some kind if he didn't look so startled by Rukia's nasty glare.

They walked in silence to the club for a few minutes before Hisagi broke first. "Oh don't be so uptight about it," Hisagi said and Nanao continued to ignore him. "It's not that big of a deal. It just proved my point that everyone knows you have Kyouraku Taicho on a short leash."

"I said what?" Kyouraku yelped from behind them.

"I hope you enjoyed winning that fight, because that was a stupid lie to tell in front of Rukia-san," Nanao commented lightly glancing back to see Matsumoto at Kyouraku's side and him vigorously shaking his head no. "Gossip travels fast in the SWA."

"Oh man," Hisagi groaned as Kyouraku glanced over and glared at him. "How much trouble do you think I'm in?"

"Depends on if he thinks I believed what you said was true or not," she said calmly. "After all, as you just elegantly pointed out to me, he values my good opinion."

"This one's really going to bite me in the ass, huh? What am I going to owe you to keep him from killing me?"

She felt Kyouraku headed their way as they entered the club and gave Hisagi an evil little smile. "I'm not in any particular need right now, but a future favor might not go amiss." Hisagi groaned. Nanao was very good at collecting favors, and no one wanted to owe her. Her Taicho had taught her very young to never take a deal unless you knew the exact cost upfront, but other people had clearly not learned that lesson. She had a gift for getting out of the grunt work Fukutaichos had to take on due to a backlog of favors owed. "Of course, you could always try to explain yourself to Kyouraku Taicho."

"I've kept your secret," he argued. "I could tell everyone right now you're sleeping with him and I walked in on you in the office."

"Who would ever believe I'd do something as unprofessional as sleeping with my Taicho in the office?"

Hisagi growled under his breath and Kyouraku caught up to them as they made their way past the bouncer and into the club. "Fine, deal."

"Nanao-chan, Hisagi-kun," Kyouraku sang, although the second name was at a decidedly more threatening pitch. "May I have a word?"

"What is it Kyouraku Taicho?"

"Nanao-chan, I don't know what he told you, but I never had any plans to go to a strip club after this."

"First of all," she said making sure to keep her body between him and Hisagi just in case. It wouldn't do to lose a friend over something so stupid. "You may do whatever you like. Second of all, I am well aware you had no such plans. Hisagi-san made the whole thing up as an attempt to show Rukia-san what a good guy Abarai-san is." Kyouraku quirked an eyebrow at her and she elaborated. "Abarai-san is interested in Rukia-san, but so far she only sees him as a friend. Hisagi-san just wanted to give her another reason to think Abarai-san is a good man and he knew that Abarai-san would turn down the offer of a strip club."

"I see," Kyouraku said somewhat disbelieving. He didn't seem to care what the actual story behind the lie was though as long as she didn't think it was true. "I'm all for being a good wingman Hisagi-san, but perhaps next time only use your own name to make Abarai-kun look better."

"Yes, sir. Sorry about that, sir. I told Nanao-san it was a lie right away, sir."

"Glad that's sorted. Shall we?" Nanao gestured towards where the SWA and their guests were filing into couches and chairs surrounding two big tables. The club had seating on the upper floor and a few steps down to a large dance floor. Nanao could already feel a headache coming on from the loudness of the music. She didn't know how she got roped into these things. Maybe she could feign tiredness in an hour or two and escape home. Kyouraku pulled out a chair for her and she purposefully ignored it, sitting down next to Hisagi on the end of a couch.

A half hour later Nanao had almost finished off her second drink and was starting to feel more relaxed until Matsumoto declared it was time for dancing. She politely declined Hisagi as he was dragged with several others to the dance floor. Kyouraku stayed and Nanao tensed. "I think I'll go get another drink," she announced and fled the table.

Standing at the bar she quickly regretted her actions as she realized she'd moved away from any of the remaining people at the table and had opened herself up to a frontal attack with no gossiping ears to protect her from a discussion she didn't want to have. Nanao groaned internally as she felt Kyouraku's reiatsu weaving his way towards her through the crowded bar.

"Buy you a drink?"

Nanao glanced over at the man smiling hopefully at her and was pleasantly surprised. She'd expected to have to shoot down a creep. The man was clean-shaven with dark hair and eyes. She was about to politely tell him no when she felt Shunsui come up behind her. "You know what, I'd really rather dance if you're willing."

The man looked delighted. "Of course," he said offering his arm. "I'm Kenta by the way."

"Nanao," she offered up as they brushed past Shunsui.

"Very nice to meet you, Nanao-san."

Nanao spent the next hour dancing and drinking with Kenta, effectively avoiding her group and Shunsui. Kenta proved to be pleasant company and were the situation different she would have seriously considered going home with him that evening. He was attractive enough and sweeter than many of the men she'd gone to bed with in the past. Meanwhile Shunsui was probably regretting the years of dance classes he'd forced on the division. He always claimed it was to help their footwork for fighting, but Nanao was pretty sure it was an excuse to dance her around in front of their division as, according to him, it was only right that the Taicho and Fukutaicho got paired together for lessons. Him needing dance lessons was a joke if she'd ever heard one, as he'd been taught to dance since he was a young child and he'd had to put up with three solid months of her stepping on his toes before she'd started to get better. Now though, she was a pretty good dancer, and Kenta was keeping up admirably well.

Kenta excused himself to the bathroom and Nanao told him she'd be outside getting some air. She was overheated and the drinks were starting to seriously go to her head.

Stepping outside she gulped down some fresh evening air and wondered hazily how best to make her escape. She knew she was on the edge of very drunk and didn't particularly want to take that final leap. It seemed as good a time as any to head home.

"Alright, Nanao-chan?"

She whipped her head to the right and wondered if she was drunker than her previous assessment since she'd completely failed to notice Kyouraku and Ukitake standing out front of the club talking. Ukitake shook his head and clapped his friend on the shoulder before brushing past her and going back inside the bar with barely a nod of acknowledgement in her direction. Nanao frowned lightly. Ukitake had been unfailing polite to her whenever they'd interacted over the past couple months, but it'd lacked a certain warmth she'd become accustomed to from her Taicho's best friend.

"Did I do something to make him angry?"

"It's nothing to worry about," Shunsui said with a shrug. "He's frustrated with me, not you. Are you doing ok?"

"I'm fine," she said swaying lightly on her feet.

"You're drunk," he stated with a small sad smile.

"Barely," she defended crossing her arms. "I'll be sober in a moment."

He laughed slightly at that. "Of course, Nanao-chan. Maybe you should head home?"

"I'm fine. I could stay out all night." She didn't know why she said it. She'd been wanting to go home anyway, but something about his tone had reminded her of when he humored her and thought he knew better and it pissed her off. She was maybe too drunk for this conversation.

"Of course, Nanao-chan." He reached out as if to touch her cheek, but let his hand drop before he made contact. "Either way I think I'll be leaving shortly."

"Getting old?" she teased losing her defensive stance. She didn't think she'd ever outstayed him on a night out. Not that she particularly actually wanted to, but it'd prove that she could.

"Something like that. Nanao-chan," he paused and for a second he seemed torn between saying anything else. "Do you like the man you've been spending time with tonight?"

"Kenta-kun? He's very nice." She shifted and wondered where this was going. Was he going to get upset with her again? He really had no right. They hadn't agreed to anything other than sex, and she wasn't sleeping with Kenta. "I'd have gone to bed with him before we started this, but we promised we wouldn't while we sere still sleeping together. It was just dancing. I haven't forgotten if you're worried, Taicho."

"I'm not. I think you should sleep with him if you want."

Nanao started at that. "What? But we had an agreement."

"And I'm ending it," he said and she could read the sadness in his face. "Nanao-chan, we can't keep this up, or at least I can't. I want more than you can give, and it's unfair of me. I was hoping you'd come around, but that was ridiculous of me. You are who you are and I wouldn't love you if you weren't. I miss our friendship. I miss being able to just be with you. I love having sex with you, Nanao-chan, but I unfortunately love you more. I hate watching you take someone else to events and actively avoid me."

"I've always been upfront about what I wanted." She could feel her blood boiling. She hadn't misled him in anyway. Was he really going to end it now over a stupid SWA event? It was idiotic.

"I know, and I'm not mad, and none of this is your fault. I knew the terms when I agreed, and I thought I could handle them, but I can't. I've never been so happy and so miserable all at once, Nanao. I'm always going to want more from you if we're allowed those intimacies. That's why we have to go back to being just friends. I'm not saying it will be easy for me, but I won't mope about it or push you into anything you're uncomfortable with. Give me a couple weeks and it'll be like none of this happened. I promise. Although I will ask that you keep your liaisons private from me as you did before. It might be unfair, but I don't think I can stand to hear about them, not even as your friend."

Something lurched inside her chest as she realized he was serious. Perhaps she could turn his decision though. "That's silly. I'm sorry I didn't dance with you. I didn't realize it was such a big deal. Come on." She grabbed his hand and turned back to the door intent on tugging him inside and having one grudging dance with him. It's not like she hadn't at other events with the SWA. Usually by the end of the night she'd had enough of his puppy eyes and loud declarations of her cruelty and would let him take her out on to the dance floor. Tonight though it was different, there were no jokes or pleading, he just looked sad. She frowned when she tugged his hand again and he remained stationary. She turned around giving his hand another slight pull. "We'll go and dance. You don't have to play this game. We'll go dance and then we'll go home together."

"Nanao," he sighed and she ignored the lack of an affectionate suffix again. It was becoming increasingly clear this wasn't some stupid little game to get back at her for not dancing with him. "I can't go in there and pretend nothing is wrong. I can't hold you and not have you."

"There's nothing going on between me and Kenta-san. I wasn't going to sleep with him."

"This isn't about anyone else. I'm in love with you, and that's my problem to deal with, but I can't give you what you want anymore. If you care for me at all you must understand what a tough position I'm in."

Nanao dropped his hand. He was serious. "You don't love me."

His lips quirked up at that. "Nanao-chan, I don't think this is one of the things you get to decide. I do love you. But I can curb it. I can be friends with you if that's all you'll allow me, but I can't sleep with you at the same time."

"You're a man whore," she said venomously, and he flinched. "You've slept with tons of women and it's meant nothing. Everyone knows it. Why should I be any different?"

"It always means nothing until it doesn't," he said frustration leaking into his tone. "Trust me, if I could figure out how to sleep with you and not love you I would have done it. You're beautiful, and intelligent, and a man would have to be insane not to want you. I know all of these things. I wish you were another Lisa-chan, but you aren't."

Those words stung and felt oddly freeing all at once. They hurt because she'd always feared not being able to live up to her mentor's status, and at the same time they were liberating because it implied she was something more than Lisa had been to him. "Its just sex."

"It has never been just sex with you," he said finally touching her cheek and meeting her eyes. There was pain in his expression and she wanted to destroy it. She'd never meant to hurt him. She hated seeing him hurt.

"I thought it'd give us both what we wanted," she murmured.

His hands cupped her face and he gave her a sad smile. "It'll be fine, Nanao-chan. You'll see. It'll be back to normal in no time, and one day you'll find a man you truly love and you'll understand the difference." He kissed her then and she fisted her hands in his shirt, missing the haoris that gave her more leverage. She tried to follow his mouth as he pulled back from her all too soon. "You deserve to fall in love Nanao-chan, even if it isn't with me. Give me some time and it will be like this never happened."

Her chest ached at the thought. She didn't want to pretend it never happened. She might not be his best friend, but he was certainly hers. How had she made such a mess of their friendship? "Shunsui, I'll invite you to the next event, I swear. I didn't know it meant so much to you."

He sighed and dropped his hands from her. "No, Nanao, you won't. You're not that cruel. If you can't love me, you'll let me go."

"You're ancient, you must have thought you've been in love before," she accused getting frustrated and lashing out again. He couldn't love her. She hadn't been this emotionally unraveled since Lisa went missing it seemed. "And it clearly didn't last, so why is it so important? Why can't we just be friends with benefits and that be enough?"

"I have fallen in love before," he admitted. "And it's always ended poorly. It's why Jyuu is so upset at me. He tends to see it coming before I do. But I'm not going to lose you that way and just because it's ended badly in the past doesn't mean you should give up trying. That's why it has to end here. I can still recover from here. _We_ can still recover from here."

"What did I do so wrong tonight?" She fought back unbidden tears with sheer force of will.

"You did nothing wrong, it just made me understand things more clearly. It forced me to decide what I really want. I'm not willing to sacrifice our friendship for a warm cunt," he said crudely. "I can find that anywhere, but I can't find another you anywhere. It ends tonight. Sleep with the boy if you need a rebound, Nanao. I'm not going to get in the way. I'm sure he can fulfill whatever it is you need. I'll see you in the office on Monday."

He turned on his heel and walked away from her and Nanao stood in shock. She'd seen him be cutting before. Everyone thought he was so easy going and kind, but she knew that was just because that was how he wanted to be seen. It was easier to find people's weaknesses if they were relaxed around you. When he aimed to hurt he never missed. It had just never been aimed at her before. He'd been upset and disappointed with her in the past, but never intentionally nasty to her. Logically she knew he was doing it because he knew she would react badly and not follow him. He probably thought it was the quickest way to get a clean break and easier for both of them. In fact her first instinct was to curse at him inside her head and sleep with Kenta just to prove how much what he said didn't matter to her, which he probably also knew would be her reaction. She'd never handled emotional stress that well. Work stress was easy to compartmentalize, but emotional stress always made her do something stupid. It's why she avoided it at all costs. Holy hell, she wished she were less drunk right now.

"Nanao-san?" She turned around to see Kenta approaching her. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," she said dazed. He smiled at her uncertainly and he really was handsome. "We should get out of here. Let me tell my friends I'm leaving."

He looked surprised but nodded his agreement and held the door before following her back into the overheated club. She made her way back over to the table finding it occupied by Ukitake, Hisagi, Matsumoto, Kuchiki, and Abarai.

"Oh, Nanao-chan," Masumoto sang. "Do you know where Shunsui-kun got off too? I just ordered more sake on his tab."

"He went home I think," she said trying to ignore Ukitake's hard stare.

"Pity," Matsumoto said with a pout. "Oh well, he left his tab open, more for us!"

"As long as it's his and not the 8th's," Nanao spat annoyed and Matsumoto blinked at the venom in her voice. The idiot couldn't even be trusted to remember to close his own tab. Why in the world was she upset about that moron walking away from her? He was more bother than he was worth. "Kenta-kun and I are leaving. I just wanted to tell you so you weren't looking for me." She slipped her arm through Kenta's and pretended not to notice the shocked looks on the table's occupants' faces. Ise Nanao did not leave bars drunk with random men. At least not the Ise Nanao she'd ever let them see. Good, she hoped they gossiped about it and Ukitake ran straight back to Kyouraku. She was just doing as her commanding officer had suggested after all. "Well, bye then." She tugged Kenta's arm and dragged him out of the club behind her.

They got about two blocks away before he spoke up. "So I actually live in the other direction."

"Oh," she said dropping his arm. "Sorry." She really hadn't been thinking. She just knew she needed to get away from the club.

"Do you want to grab a coffee?" he asked jerking his finger to a nearby diner.

"Maybe that would be best," she conceded. Despite it all she had no desire to sleep with him. They made their way inside and ordered two coffees when the waitress came by.

"So is that guy an ex? Or something more current?" Kenta asked after a few moments of silence.

Nanao sighed, there was no point pretending she didn't know who he was talking about. "We're just friends."

"Didn't seem that way to me, considering how riled you both looked when I came outside at the end of your conversation and the way he was glaring at me all night. Your friends also seemed surprised you were leaving with me."

Nanao debated lying, but honestly what did it matter? She'd probably never see Kenta again and he didn't know anyone from Soul Society to gossip to. "We've been friends with benefits for a few months."

Kenta snorted. "Well that would explain that. His idea or yours?"

"Mine."

"And who wants out?"

"He does," she admitted. "Said he was in love with me, which isn't true."

"Why isn't it true?"

"He can't possibly love me. He's a flirt and a notorious skirt chaser. He's had many open relationships over the years."

"Did it ever occur to you that he might have been that way _because_ he wasn't in love yet? I mean I don't know the situation, but just knowing you for a few hours I don't know many men who would willingly stop sleeping with a beautiful woman like you with no strings attached unless they were in love with someone. In fact I think most men would kill for the opportunity."

Nanao blushed at that and stared down at her coffee. "I'm not looking for love. It makes everything too complicated."

"Because the current situation is easy?"

She sighed and wished again she could sober up faster and get her wits back. Instead honesty she hadn't even really let fully form in her own secret thoughts burbled over. "If I fall in love with him its over. We either don't work out and everything goes to hell, or we do work out and we get married and have children and my whole life is already written."

"And that'd be a terrible future?"

"I'm just not ready for it with anyone. He's older than me. It's not fair that he's gotten to play around for centuries, of course he's sure of what he wants, he's had time to try everything." Kenta raised an eyebrow at the centuries comment, but seemed to let it go.

"Well then it's probably better to end it. How hard could it be? I had a friend I slept with once. We just avoided each other for a few months after and then one day it wasn't such a big deal and we moved on and we're good friends again."

"Did I mention he's my boss?"

Kenta gave a low whistle at that. "You don't do things by half do you?"

"I'm sorry, this probably wasn't how you wanted your evening to go. Talking to a total stranger about their relationship or lack there of."

Kenta shrugged. "I don't mind so much. My roommate already took a girl home so hopefully they're passed out by the time I get there and I won't have to hear anything through the wall. Do you mind terribly if I lie and say I got lucky?"

Nanao smiled at that. It's not like she had a reputation to protect here. Besides that's what she'd wanted her friends to think too when she'd dragged him out of there. It was only fair. "Feel free."

"Will he fire you?"

"Oh, of course not," she said. She'd honestly never worried about that. "He said he'd find a way to be just friends again and I believe him."

"Not even to get back at you?"

"He's not petty like that." Well he could be, but he generally tried to control that tendency. If he took any action like that it'd be bringing whatever new woman he was sleeping with around in an attempt to make her jealous. The fact that just the thought of it did make her jealous and hurt was neither here nor there.

"Well then it sounds like the problem is solved."

"How so?"

"I mean if it hurts him to be in a sex only relationship with you it obviously can't continue, and if you have no intention of ever being in a serious relationship with him then you can't change it. The only real option is to either stop fraternizing all together, which seems impossible with your jobs or to go back to being just friends and forgetting about it. He's just pulling the plug sooner so it's less painful."

Nanao sighed. He wasn't wrong, but if she'd known two days ago that that was the last time she'd get to have sex with Shunsui they'd certainly have gotten less sleep and she would have requested a lot more things. She was going to miss that talented mouth, hell she was going to miss his talented everything. She pushed the thought away that she was going to miss just him most of all. "Of all the stupid things to make him do it. I should have just danced with him tonight."

Kenta smiled at that. "Sorry I added to the problem.

She shook her head. "No, I was trying to avoid him. If it hadn't been you it would have been someone else."

"Ouch."

"Sorry, I'm terrible company tonight."

"Do you need me to walk you home?" Kenta asked gesturing at their empty mugs. "Or another cup of coffee?"

"I'm fine," she said with a small smile thinking of him walking her home to Soul Society. Not that he'd be able to see the gate, but he'd be plenty freaked out when her gigai 'dropped dead.' It'd be an interesting urban legend to start if nothing else. "Thank you for the coffee and the listening ear."

They parted ways and Nanao made it back to the safe house noticing all the other gigais had been returned and she was the last to go home. She wondered what rumors were flying when the others had noticed she still hadn't gone back. Well, she was sure to hear them sooner or later. She sighed and started the lonely journey home.

* * *

 **A/N: First of all thank you all for the reviews helping me through the past week. I literally woke up in the middle of the night to read some and was like, "I'm not alone!" But now I'm still not sure what to do with the last chapter. Spoilers clearly if you aren't caught up to 651 (i.e. stop reading if you hate spoilers).**

 **I've seen all the arguments for and against her actually being his blood niece, and I'm hoping that him being a kid when he Nanao's mom was married to his brother and the time lapse between that and Nanao being a kid proves she's not his niece. I also instantly read her lines at the end as a confession especially with the close up of the smile, but then I read an argument that it was just her saying love (whenever she fell into it) would counteract the curse - not necessarily a confession to him directly. Going back, I can read the scene either way and I'm not sure what Kubo intended. I really wish Kubo had just been like "and many years later when your mother had you I made a promise" and settled that shit. Like how ok is Japan with incest? Because frankly there was a whole omake where he tried to see her boob.  
**

 **Urgh. I'm honestly still not sure what to do with all my feelings. Hope everyone else is managing better than me considering I literally couldn't work this morning and spent the first two hours obsessively reading everyone's reactions. Someone posted a gif of Nick Fury's quote from the Avengers movie on one of the boards and for now I'm going to have to agree if it is incest – "I recognize the Council has made a decision. But given that it's a stupid ass decision, I've elected to ignore it." Guess that means I'm finishing this story even if there is incest and declaring cannon AU in my head. Let me know what you all think of the Bleach chapter and my story chapter and sorry for the long author's note. #ShippersUnite  
**


	11. Evenings Alone

It'd been three weeks. Three terrible, long, awkward weeks. Nanao was seriously contemplating transferring if this kept up. Though where she'd go she didn't know.

The first week had just been lonely and weird as Shunsui avoided her at all costs and went out and got hammered every night with friends. He'd drag himself into the office around three, do an hour or so of paperwork without comment, and then go home and nap before doing it all again.

The second week had seen a slightly more sober Shunsui, but little else had changed, and the third week had become awkward politeness. Nanao dragged herself to work on the Monday of the fourth week and didn't have high hopes for the day.

She was surprised when Shunsui showed up around eleven, which had been his old routine before all of this had started, and greeted her with a pleasant hello.

"Did you have a nice weekend, Taicho?" she asked afraid to lose the small normality he'd offered.

"Good enough," he said with a shrug. "And yours, Nanao-chan?" It was the first time he'd called her that since the break up, which is what she'd taken to referring to it as in her mind since she didn't have a better choice of words, and she'd have been pleased if it didn't sound hollow. He used to say Nanao-chan with such affection and now it just sounded like a careless suffix, one he used with all the females of their division. She hadn't even noticed in the past that he'd said hers differently, but now it was blatantly obvious.

"Same, it was very quiet," she said trying to shake off her irritation. It was a small window of opportunity and she didn't want her frustration to shut it.

"So what work is crucial today?" He wandered over to his desk and she tried not to look let down. In the past on Mondays he regaled her with tales from his weekend exploits, begged for details from hers, and tried to convince her to combine their weekend plans the next weekend. This usually killed at least an hour before he bolted for lunch.

"The ones on the right hand side of your desk. Those need to go to the first by end of day."

He settled in without complaint and pulled the paperwork towards him. She tried really hard not to be annoyed. After all he was finally being a good Taicho. Well as good as he could be with paperwork. He showed up each day, offered zero complaints, and got the necessary work done in about an hour as she'd always known he could with her managing most of it. His work had only ever taken him so long because of the constant whining and flirting. He'd often dragged out his work to spend more time with her. Besides that, she knew she wasn't allowed to be annoyed when he was the one supposedly getting over a broken heart. Still the fact remained that she _was_ annoyed. This wasn't at all how their friendship used to be.

An hour later Shunsui stretched and got up to deposit the finished paperwork on her desk. "I'm meeting Jyuu for lunch and will be back in time to teach the swordplay class you wanted me to cover at three. Was there anything else you needed from me today?"

Yes, a kind word or some sort of acknowledgement that they would be ok again wouldn't go amiss. "No, that's all for today, sir."

"Alright, Nanao-chan. Don't stay too late today." Then he swept out of the room, pausing for a few minutes to flirt with the secretaries and send them into fits of giggles, before shunpoing off to lunch.

To say she was miserable was an understatement. Nanao really hadn't realized how much of her life he took up, even before they'd started dominating each other's evenings and nights, until he was suddenly gone. She half wished she'd never started the whole stupid thing, only half wished because it really had been incredible sex. And she did miss the sex something awful.

But she missed just being able to talk to him, listening to his stupid stories, and chastising him for his ridiculous flirting. She missed getting dragged out to lunch or tea or anything else that had caught his fancy. She missed him showing up to her training classes to 'observe,' but really just to call out comments and tease her and the recruits before offering meaningful insights that actually helped the division members. She was an excellent if strict teacher, but he made things fun and used his own long experience to explain things in a way she wouldn't think to. She missed him popping by the office late at night to make sure she'd eaten and was going home soon. She just missed him.

Nanao felt guilty, thinking this must have been how he felt when she showed up for sex on her own time and refused most of their normal interactions for the sake of making people think they weren't together. She really could have been more lenient without anyone thinking anything had changed. Perhaps then he wouldn't have made such a rash decision.

Nanao sighed and turned back to her paperwork. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Shunsui picked at his food. He was miserable. He heard Jyuushiro sigh across from him and he jammed a piece of sushi in his mouth and tried to summon up a weak smile.

"You didn't have to break up with her you know."

"You were the one telling me I should end it."

"I know, but since when have you listened to me?"

"Only the few times you've been right." Shunsui put his chopsticks down and looked at his worried friend. "It'll be fine. Better now than a year down the road. It's just difficult to be around her, especially when she looks as unhappy as I am. It'll sort itself out. Just let me wallow for a little while."

"Do you really think it will sort itself out?"

"Of course," he answered with a shrug. "Despite all of Nanao-chan's protests I can be professional. But not even I can take continual rejection. I'll get over her and move on. It just might take a few centuries."

Jyuushiro winced. "A few centuries is a while even by our standards. I'd hoped you'd at least be able to manage decades."

Shunsui shrugged. "Maybe she'll find a lover and hurt me so badly it'll speed up the timeline."

"A terrible thing to wish."

"I don't think I'll fall out of love with her if she isn't cruel. Is it sick that I'd hoped she'd sleep with the boy the other night? It would have hurt something awful, but at least I would have known there was no hope. The longer she lingers the less I can stop myself from thinking wishful things like maybe I really did mean something to her beyond casual sex."

"You know you mean more to her than that."

"And that's the problem. I constantly have that little voice far in the back of my head saying maybe, just maybe, when I know rationally that she doesn't love me the way I love her. It's foolishness and not fit for a man of my years."

"A man of your years should be well accustomed to the fact that you can't control who you fall in love with. She will be discreet if she takes a new lover. She always has been, and she won't want to deliberately hurt you. So we have centuries of this melancholy ahead of us?"

"You could always make new friends and abandon me to my misery," Shunsui joked.

"We're going out tonight. Ise-san is a beautiful and intelligent woman, but that doesn't mean there aren't others. If I have to drag you out of this funk, I will."

"Like our academy days?" Shunsui asked with a fond smile. "I don't believe we can still stay out like that anymore."

"Ah, but you've forgotten to factor in that we are not young unknown academy students. Women are impressed by our titles. At least for a little while. It shouldn't take us as long to strike up conversation as it did back then."

Shunsui smiled and then shook his head. "I liked her better because she was not impressed."

"Well I'm sure we can find plenty of those women too," Jyuushiro said comfortingly. Shunsui offered him a laugh. He knew he must be a miserable sad sack if his friend was taking on the role of cavalier Casanova. The least he could do is humor him. The fact of the matter was there was only one Nanao. He could find comfort in one hundred women and still be missing her. As it was the past three weeks had been trial enough. To be so near to her and not reach out to her, especially when he knew she would respond favorably, had been agony. If he asked he knew she would reinstate their agreement. It was tempting and torturous. He'd never returned her key, though he should. He'd nearly entered her home drunk and desperate for her one night, but had held on to his sanity by a thread. There was no weaning off of Nanao. It was cold turkey or nothing at all. Something inside him knew she'd capture him completely if he went back to her now. As it was he'd only stopped drinking so heavily because it made the dreams of her more vivid and more heartbreaking.

"Tonight it is then. It'll be just like old times."

* * *

Nanao went home cursing herself. She'd slipped out to the Rukongai with the full intention of finding someone to bed and forget just as quickly. It's not like it would be hard. She was attractive enough and if you went far enough out into the Rukongai there weren't many men that would turn down easy sex with no commitment.

She'd gone to one of her old favorite bars and waited. It never took long to be approached in her plain clothes whether they thought they could force her or seduce her. She'd always found someone willing in the past.

It'd only taken a half hour before a man brave enough approached and bought her a drink. He'd kept up a light, if meaningless, conversation with her and she gave him points for more effort than some men put in. When he'd proposed going back to his apartment she'd agreed readily enough though she'd felt no real desire. It'd only been when they'd gotten back to his place that she'd known how truly uninterested she really was. His sloppy kisses had done nothing for her and when a clumsy hand had come up to caress her hip through her yukuta she'd felt only disgust. It was other hands and lips she wanted on her. When his hands had sought out her sash she'd put an abrupt end to it. There was no way she could sleep with the man when all she wanted was Shunsui.

And so here she was an hour later in her own home frustrated and cursing herself. It should have been easy. Shunsui was just a convenient choice. No more and no less than any other man. It should have been simple to replace him with another body. They were just hands and lips after all. Still she'd been unable to feel anything other than repulsed by the stranger's touch.

Nanao set the water in her shower to a scalding temperature and got under the spray. She wanted to scrub off her top layer of skin. If anything it was proof though that Shunsui didn't feel the way he said he did. He'd been going out almost every night since they'd ended their agreement. She'd heard enough about it from the secretaries' hushed gossip. How he could tolerate other women touching him if he was in love with her she didn't know. Not that she was in love with him and that's why she couldn't stand the touch of other men. That wasn't the point at all. It'd be idiotic to admit she loved him now when it was over. It's just that if he'd truly felt anything for her at all he would be just as wretched and celibate as she was.

She was honestly shocked he hadn't broken down yet and come to her. This past weekend she'd found herself at his front door without thought and barely stopped herself from walking into his home and crawling into his bed to see if she could persuade him. It was only the thought that he might not be alone that had stopped her from entering. She didn't think she would be able to deal with walking in on that. Just the thought made her want to rip him a new one. Not that she had any right to.

Standing in the shower she could imagine him sliding in behind her as he had so often in the months they were together. He loved nothing more than to hijack her showers when she was trying to leave him. It would have annoyed her if he hadn't constantly made it worth her while. His hot breath at her neck and his hands caressing every inch of her. Damn it, she had to stop thinking about it if she was going to get any sleep tonight. Regardless of logic her hand went down between her own legs and she touched herself imagining it was him. It was sad how quickly her imagination could get her going when a real man could not anymore.

If she closed her eyes she could feel him pressed up behind her as his fingers slid up into her finding her sweet spot and hitting it mercilessly. A thumb moved over her clit and she could imagine his tongue tracing heated patterns on her most intimate areas. A stronger pressure had her bucking her hips and stifling a cry. His erection would be settled against her back as he toyed with her, waiting to slide home. Arching her body, a hand came up to cup her breast and tease her. At this point she wouldn't be surprised if teeth dug into her throat, nipping and leaving marks. The fingers buried in her core moved faster bring her closer to the edge. She could nearly hear him whispering words of praise and longing in her ear. How he'd dreamt about this all day, how beautiful and wonderful she was, and how she was going to scream his name until he was satisfied. His name slipped passed her lips and she didn't even care if it proved him right. She'd been thinking about it all day too. And when he finally pressed his aching member up inside of her she was nearly senseless from the anticipation. She felt her orgasm rush through her quick and harsh making her press against the shower wall for balance and her toes curl back towards her feet. It was his name that tumbled past her lips.

Panting in the aftermath Nanao admitted, if only to herself, that she had it bad. She didn't know if she'd ever be able to touch herself again without thinking of him. And what was the point of masturbation if it was always the same person in the fantasy? She'd pushed him away for fear of not being ready to settle down, but her fantasies had seemed to settle down quite nicely on him. It was pathetic. Pathetic that she wanted him to scoop her up and take her to their bed before curling around her and drifting off to sleep. Pathetic that she wanted him to wake her up with breakfast and badgering about what her plans were for the day. Pathetic that she wanted to hear him say he loved her and maybe even say it back if she was feeling brave enough.

Finishing her shower she dried of quickly and went to bed, slipping beneath the covers completely nude. Perhaps it was silly, but if he did break and he did come to her it'd be nice to give him a good surprise.

* * *

He'd been right. They were no longer young men wasting away their youth. Jyuushiro had done his best to secure a bevy of women vying for their attention, but then again entertaining large groups of women all at once had never been Jyuushiro's strong suit. The women were interesting and beautiful and of no more use to Shunsui than a singing bird in a cage. He missed the sharp cut of his Fukutaicho's eyes and her quick fingers stealing his sake cup and offering him a better distraction.

Now home, and once again alone, there was no point in lying to himself. He only wanted her. He wanted her to call him an idiot and threaten to deprive him of any fun if he went out and let those other women maul him again. Not that it mattered anymore. He'd had one woman practically curled up in his lap and he could barely feign interest.

Moving into his shower he wanted the scent of those strange women off of him. Nanao never wore any fragrance and he liked that she always smelled wholly like herself. There was never anything to hide. Even sweaty from the battlefield he liked the scent of her. Although he preferred her sweaty from other activities. Glistening and moaning underneath him, or above him, or in any position they fancied at the moment.

He slid his own hand down over his newfound erection. He would have sworn just a few years ago that he was well past the stage of getting hard at the slightest thought of a woman, but apparently Nanao defied the odds. He'd never not responded to the thought of her. Slowly stroking his own cock he thought of the first time her hands had touched him. Ghosting over him before grabbing him firmly. He'd thought he'd died again and gone to heaven. That quick thumb brushing over his tip sliding through the pre-cum.

He groaned as he leaned against the shower wall with his free arm. His hand started moving faster and he could almost feel when she'd grip the base of his dick and surround him with her hot wet mouth. It was sinful the way she worked him. That fast little tongue sliding up him as her other hand fondled his balls. He wanted to come in her mouth so badly. The only thing that stopped him was the thought of her tight dripping heat. He pumped faster at the memory of sliding home in her. Having her muscles clamp down on him in waves and her breathy little moans as she said his name. The way she loved when he released in her. He'd never barebacked a lover before. It was too risky. Even if they claimed they were on birth control there was a chance they were lying to trap a noble into a marriage or a commitment he didn't want, or there was always the possibility that the birth control would just fail and they'd both be caught. He never hesitated to double up on forms of protection even when he was young. But with Nanao he could hardly bring himself to care. He loved spilling his seed in her, liked knowing part of him stayed with her. The idea of her pregnant with his child was happy instead of terrifying. Just the thought of coming inside her got him hot in a way he'd never expected from something so ordinary and un-kinky.

His hand slid faster and faster at the thought. He'd annoyed her often enough sliding fingers up inside her after they were done to feel the two of them joined together. Without fail it always just made him want to fill her again. He didn't know if she'd allowed her other lovers the same intimacy, but he didn't think she had. He jerked hard on himself. For some reason he was sure he was the only one she'd permitted that particular closeness. He felt his cock and balls tighten in the tell tale signal he was about to come and gave a few last strokes as his cum splattered against his hand and the tile of the bathroom wall. He couldn't help thinking it was so much more wonderful running down her thighs.

Sighing, he cleaned the wall and himself off quickly before stepping out of the shower. He'd go to bed and hope he didn't have another dream about her. It really was getting rather sad. She'd slipped out of his bed so often he would think he'd be used to waking up alone already, but he still found himself reaching for her. He should have just taken her to the 4th all that time ago. If he had maybe they'd never have come to their arrangement. Perhaps they'd still be just friends and he'd have his ridiculous impossible fantasies without knowing just how much he was missing. He shook his head as he threw himself down in his bed. Despite it all he wouldn't want to give up those memories. Better to have loved and lost and all that. One day he was sure he'd wake up and not want her so much anymore. He doubted very much that day was tomorrow.

* * *

 **A/N: Let me know what you think. Love your reviews and thoughts on the bleach chapters.**

 **Spoiler stuff from here: Well another week, more frustration. I haven't seen the final version of 652 (hopefully we get it tomorrow but apparently scanners got busted in China so who knows when we're getting it?), but I saw the three panels of raws someone uploaded. It really looks to me like Shunsui is in an academy uniform talking to Nanao's mom… which leads me to believe Kubo fucked up the timeline and wants Shunsui to be her Uncle… I'm praying I'm wrong and he's already in a Taicho haori and thus not related. Either way I'm clearly ignoring canon at this point. I've been burying myself in old fanfictions trying to deal with my emotions. Also the people that are being nasty about the ship… what the hell is wrong with them? Like pretty sure no one is going to hell for a fictional ship, calm your tits. Fingers crossed the chapter is up tomorrow and it's a Taicho haori.**


	12. Interrogations

"You have got to fix this," Kiyone shrieked storming in fifteen minutes late to the SWA meeting. Nanao rubbed her temple. It'd already been a long day, and she really didn't want to sort out the latest drama now, whatever it may be. The meeting had been going nowhere in the time they had been here and Nanao really just wanted to go home, sleep, make it through Friday and then spend the rest of the weekend in her home with a good book. She was planning on going the whole weekend without saying a single word to another person if she could.

"What's up, Kiyone-chan?" Matsumoto asked pausing as she reached for a cookie. Nanao sighed and grabbed Yachiru by the collar before she could snatch the cookie up for herself. The girl had already had five and they'd never get out of this meeting if she got anymore hyped up.

"She's messed up everything." Nanao was surprised to find herself at the end of Kiyone's accusatory finger. "And now she has to fix it."

"What did I do?" Nanao nearly got bitten by Yachiru she was so distracted. She released the pink haired monster and ignored the curious looks the rest of the women were giving her.

"You know!"

"I most certainly do not," she said coldly. "And I can't hope to fix what I don't know is broken."

"It may be fine for your Taicho to do, but my Taicho isn't well and he can't be going out every night and drinking to excess. You have got to make them stop."

Nanao lifted an eyebrow at that as her interest in the topic died. "I'm not responsible for Kyouraku Taicho's or Ukitake Taicho's actions. If they choose to go out every night of the week then that is their business. They're grown men after all."

Kiyone burst into tears. "He needs more rest. He fell asleep at his desk today and nearly had a coughing fit when he woke up." Isane wrapped her sister in her arms and the room fell uncomfortably quiet as the girl cried.

"I'm sure Ukitake Taicho knows his limits by now. I can speak with Kyouraku Taicho about your concerns tomorrow though at the office. You know he'd never do anything to intentionally hurt Ukitake Taicho. I'm sure if they're going out again tonight it will be nothing too strenuous." She actually had no idea what her Taicho's plans were for the evening, but she did know that Kiyone was worrying unnecessarily. Nothing was more likely to have Shunsui calling it an early night that the slightest hint of his friend's illness acting up.

"Of course it will be strenuous," Kiyone sniffled having calmed herself somewhat. "They're going to that party at the 11th to celebrate Yumichika-san's birthday. And I overheard the 5th seat of the 6th division talking with her friends on the way over there bragging about how she was going to sleep with Kyouraku Taicho tonight since he was a free agent and her hussy friend said she was going to go after Ukitake Taicho."

Ah, well that explained the sudden overblown concern for Ukitake Taicho. Kiyone had always harbored a crush on him and was sure to be jealous. Nanao pointedly ignored her own jealousy singing through her veins. Kyouraku could sleep with whoever he wanted include the dainty little idiot from the 6th. It was none of her business.

Matsumoto gave a low whistle. "That party is sure to get crazy. I was going to head over there after the meeting. Everyone's either going to end up smashed out of their minds or just smashed."

"That's because the 11th throws the best parties," Yachiru chirped.

That started the women arguing about which division threw the best parties before Kiyone yelled for them all to stop. "It doesn't matter which division's party it is. Ise-san has to go and retrieve our Taichos."

All eyes turned to her again and she kept her face neutral. "I don't see why it's my problem to collect them. Again they're grown men."

"Ukitake Taicho will just brush off my concern if I go, but if you drag Kyouraku Taicho home Ukitake Taicho will leave too."

"And what exactly am I supposed to drag him out of the party for? He's completed all his paperwork for the day." He'd actually finished his paperwork for tomorrow too, and she supposed now she knew the reason why. He didn't expect to be functional for Friday. She'd probably not even see him in the office tomorrow.

"His paperwork?" Kiyone shrieked. "Did you not just hear what I told you? She's going to try to seduce him! You can drag him out of there by his ear for no reason other than he's being irresponsible if you want. You've done it before!"

"Kyouraku Taicho may bed whomever he pleases. As long as it doesn't affect his job as Taicho then I have no right to say one way or another."

"Oh, but you can't really mean that," Kiyone said fiercely and was about to say more before Isane put a hand over her mouth and the other women shushed her.

"What?" Nanao asked sourly. They were clearly all on the same page about something. It better not be what she thought it was, but she was hardly ever wrong. "Just say it already."

"They are concerned you will be upset with them for bringing up the ending of your relationship with Kyouraku Taicho," Nemu supplied helpfully.

"Who said we were ending a relationship?"

"Oh come on, Nanao-san," Matsumoto said clearly having decided that since Nemu put the conversation on the table it was fair game. "Everyone knows and everyone has been talking about it. It's so obvious. You two have never been like this before."

That did shock her. For all they were at odds now she didn't think so many people had put together they were sleeping together. She certainly would have thought there would have been more gossip and whispers whenever she came near over the last few months if everyone knew. "Who is everyone?"

"Well just everyone," Matsumoto answered waving her hand about vaguely. "The whole Gotei. How could anyone miss it? I mean after the two of you have been together for decades as this generally happy, if a bit dysfunctional, couple it was obvious you were fighting the last few months." Nanao blinked confused at the word decades. "We all thought you'd figure it out though. We never expected the two of you to ever break up. The funny thing is no one can seem to figure out what he did. He must have done something pretty unforgiveable for you to sleep with that living world man. Even then we thought it might just be you getting even for him messing up and you'd work it out, but the drunken tear he's been on seems like you both really have ended it for good."

"Let me get this straight. Everyone," Nanao said mocking Matsumoto's hand gesture, "believes that Kyouraku Taicho and I have been in a relationship for decades and have been fighting about something and breaking up over the last few months?"

"Are you really still denying it?" All the women stared at her skeptically.

Nanao started to laugh. She couldn't help it. It welled up from deep inside and quickly got out of control. How ridiculous. How utterly insane for the whole Sereitei to think they were fucking for decades when they weren't and then believe they were breaking up when they were actually fucking. Her emotions warred with each other and she worried slightly that her laughter was going to devolve into tears.

"Is she alright?" Rukia asked quietly.

"I believe she is having a mental breakdown of some sort," Nemu observed.

"Sorry," Nanao sputtered finally. "I'm fine."

"Oh, Nanao-san," Momo added, "It's ok if you're upset. We know we shouldn't have brought it up as you've always been so private about your relationship, but you really have been miserable and distracted these last few weeks. If it helps, Hisagi-kun and Kira-kun are under the impression that Kyouraku Taicho is wretched about the whole thing too. I really think if you two talked whatever it is out everything could go back to normal. He really does love you even if he did mess up somehow."

"She's right, Nanao-san," Matsumoto agreed. "We'd all even go back to pretending we don't know the two of you are together if that helps."

"We were never in a relationship," Nanao said and the women around her sighed, clearly thinking she was trying to put on the show they thought she'd been putting on for years. "We were just friends."

"Alright, Nanao-san, whatever you say. We believe you," Isane said kindly as Matsumoto rolled her eyes.

Really, what was she even protecting anymore? If they were going to gossip they might as well have the facts. "I slept with Kyouraku Taicho for the first time approximately four months ago. Before that we were nothing more than friends. During the last few months we were friends with benefits. And now, well now I suppose we are Taicho and Fukutaicho as we always should have been to start with."

More than one jaw was hanging open in the room. "That's not possible," Kiyone said after struggling for a moment to find words. "You stayed in the same room as Kyouraku Taicho five years ago when we all stayed out at Ugendo when Ukitake Taicho had that terrible fit."

"The house was full with all of us. It was the only room left and we had separate futons," Nanao explained with a snort.

"Like a few feet of space between you would stop a man like Kyouraku Taicho," Matsumoto said.

"Kyouraku Taicho does not bed unwilling women," Nanao defended. Shunsui might be a flirt, but he would never do something like that. "He didn't even make any jokes about it. He was worried for his best friend, not trying to get into my pants." Nanao had actually ended up in his futon that trip, but not for anything sexual. Every time he fell asleep he'd dream terrible dreams and wake up in a panic wanting to check on Ukitake, but knowing the man needed his sleep and Unohana had it under control and would not thank him for his interference. After the fourth time waking him from nightmares she'd crawled in beside him. It'd seemed to calm his dreams and got him through the rest of the night. They'd spent the next two nights the same way until Ukitake's fever had broken, and never spoken of it again.

"Didn't you help him pick out his bedroom furniture two years ago?"

Nanao rolled her eyes. Would no one let that go? "Only because he was too lazy to do it himself."

"You've been his date to ever Kyouraku family wedding or event for the past couple decades," Rukia said having attended some of the noble events his family demanded he be at.

"Of course I have." Nanao shrugged. "He hates those things and always wants company. Who was he supposed to bring? Some floozy he picked up in a bar? His mother would skin him alive. I'm an easy alternative. Ignorable because I'm not noble, and yet acceptable because of my high rank within the Gotei 13. Our general arrangement is an hour of paperwork for every hour I have to accompany him to those things. Unless there is particularly delicious food that makes up for some of the boredom of having to be there."

"You have access to all of his medical records," Unohana said quietly, the first thing she'd added to the conversation.

Nanao blushed lightly at that. Unohana might be the only person that actually had reason to think they were together. Nanao hadn't lied, but when she'd figured out that Unohana assumed that they were together she also hadn't dissuaded her of the notion. "It's easier than trying to get the state of his health out of him. He wouldn't manage it properly anyway."

"He also has access to all of your medical records and is your emergency contact."

"I have no living family," Nanao defended. "Who else would I put?"

"I have no living family and my Taicho doesn't have access," Matsumoto said. "Hisagi-kun is my emergency contact."

"Same," Momo added. "Only Kira-kun is mine and he certainly doesn't have access to my medical records."

"You put your good friends down," Nanao said ignoring the latter comment. "Kyouraku Taicho and I have been friends for years. I never denied that."

"You have sex with him every year on his birthday." Matsumoto looked like she'd just played her winning move and all the women around her nodded.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Every year he has that big party and then you leave early and he 'walks you home' and then goes missing from the party for like at least an hour and then comes back smiling."

"He walks me home because he's a chivalrous idiot, and every year he stays for tea and for me to give him his present in private."

"Yeah, we all know you 'give him his present'," Matsumoto said doing air quotes with her fingers to emphasize the innuendo.

"We've never had sex on his birthday," Nanao stated firmly and then blushed. "Well except for this year." This year their birthdays had been slightly different and yet much the same as previous years. They'd spent hers at the Tanabata festival together as they did every year. She hadn't even minded being seen out with him since everyone expected them to attend the festival together. They'd watched the fireworks as always and then he'd walked her home. But what used to end at the door had continued into her home that night. He'd promised her a full body massage that would have her panting for him at the end and he didn't lie. His hands were magic. If she'd known he could massage like that she probably would have let him touch her years ago. She'd ended the massage relaxed and horny. The languid sex that had followed was definitely in her top ten of experiences.

For his birthday a few days later they'd ended up at his inevitable giant party. She'd feigned tiredness as she did every year and he'd excused himself to walk her home. It'd become tradition to give him his gift in private and spend an hour trying to sober him up a little before he went back to the party. This year he'd stayed mostly sober and when he'd asked for his present she'd simply begun to strip. The pink lacy lingerie was more than uncomfortable, but it'd been worth wearing it simply to see his face. He'd reached for her like a starving man and what had followed had been hasty and hot. She'd kicked him out not long after they'd finished to try and maintain appearances and he'd returned to his party like he did every year. "But before this year it was always platonic."

"He's been leaving his own party for decades to walk you home and have a cup of tea?" Matsumoto asked with a laugh. "Boy, he's got it bad."

"Not anymore he doesn't."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"He's the one that broke it off with me."

"Bullshit," Matsumoto said crisply. "That man is head over heels in love with you. Trust me. I go drinking with him all the time. For pity sake the man will get drunk and all he'll talk about is his beautiful, intelligent Nanao-chan. Why would he break it off?"

"He wanted more and I wasn't able to give it," she answered with a shrug.

"More what? Sex?" Nemu asked innocently. "The 12th has developed energy pills that may help you satisfy him if necessary."

"No, Nemu-san," she said with a tired laugh. "He wanted a real relationship. He wanted to date me and have everyone know we were together."

"But everyone already knows you are together," the 12th division Fukutaicho said confused.

"People thought we were together, but we never were," she corrected. "If I had agreed to be with him I might as well have said yes to a marriage proposal."

"And that would have been bad because you're interested in someone else?" Rukia said quizzically.

"Did I say that?"

"So it would have been bad because you never want to get married?"

"I might want to get married someday."

"So it was bad because he was your best friend and you didn't feel a sexual attraction to him no matter how hard you tried?" Momo interjected.

"Our sexual attraction was just fine, thank you," Nanao snapped.

"So what you're telling us," Matsumoto summed up, "Is that he was your best friend, who you trusted completely, and had great sex with, but you let him break up with you because you didn't know if that was what you wanted?" Nanao glared but gave her a grudging nod. "So what do you want? Because I have news for you, it doesn't get better than being in love with your best friend who can give you earth shaking orgasms."

"I don't know what I want," Nanao argued defensively. "That's the whole point."

"So how can you be sure you don't want him?" Kiyone asked.

"Did he say that if you started dating it would be with the intention of marriage?" Retsu asked softly. "Did he put a lot of pressure on you two being together and the implications it would have? I could understand how that would be overwhelming. He is quite a bit older and perhaps more ready to settle down. His family's involvement could also add an extra layer of stress."

Nanao blushed. "No. He never even explicitly brought up marriage, and his family has no real thoughts about me one way or another since they know nothing about any potential relationship. Although they probably would be unbearable if we did have any sort of relationship as I'm way below his social class, not that that would matter to him. He mainly just wanted me to spend the whole night and let him take me out to dinner in public and such."

The room fell into silence and Nanao had never felt more judged in her whole life. She tried not to fidget under their stares.

"So there's no chemistry then?" Matsumoto asked. "It's fine if there isn't. We aren't trying to force you into this Nanao-chan. If you have reasons for not wanting to be with him I'm sure they're perfectly legitimate. You don't have to date anyone you don't want to, especially your superior."

"There's chemistry," Nanao said feeling like Shunsui had been slighted in some way. He didn't deserve it. She was the one who had shot everything to hell. He'd never even wanted to be friends with benefits in the first place.

"Yes, but then he has chemistry with everyone I suppose," Matsumoto said. "I could see your hesitation. He's always been a man whore."

"He's not that bad," Nanao argued. "At least not the last few decades. It's mainly rumors. He agreed not to sleep with other people while he was sleeping with me, and he upheld that promise."

"So, what exactly was the problem?" Nemu asked. "I am interested to know what caused your lack of desire for him. So far my research into relationships does not predict this. Generally speaking when women find a man to be their friend, have chemistry, and have good sex the relationships have been quantifiably solid. What is it about Kyouraku Taicho that makes him insufficient for a relationship?"

"He's not insufficient," Nanao snarled. It was one thing for her to talk down about her Taicho, it was quite another for them to do it. Only she got to talk about him that way.

"Awfully defensive for a woman who doesn't want to be with him," Matsumoto observed. Nanao opened her mouth to argue, but Matsumoto cut her off. "We're going to the party. All of us."

"I am not dragging my Taicho out of there."

"Who said you had to? I just think you need a drink."

* * *

 **A/N: Happy Thanksgiving to any American readers :) Still waiting on the newest Bleach chapter so I have no new rants or concerns this week, ha. I also just re-read my first fanfiction because I hadn't read it since I first posted and am feeling pretty good about the progress I've made as a writer. Who knew that practice really does help? Hope you all have a wonderful day!**


	13. Life of the Party

"Well this is hell," Nanao snarked. The last place she wanted to be was at this party. She'd tried valiantly to get out of going, but the women had practically dragged her. Now she was just hoping that she could somehow manage to avoid her Taicho.

"Oh, don't be such a whiner," Rangiku chastised. "Here, loosen up." Rangiku thrust a drink into her hands and winked at the man who had been carrying it to his friends. The man instantly blushed and hurried away without an angry word.

"Matsumoto-san, I really don't want it," she argued. This was the last place she wanted to be tonight. Rangiku just rolled her eyes and grabbed her arm to drag her further into the party. The rest of the SWA followed and Nanao plotted ways to escape.

Correction, this, ten feet further into the party, was the last place she wanted to be tonight. From here she had a direct view of the table Ukitake and Kyouraku occupied. She also had a front row seat to the 6th's 5th seat trying to practically crawl into Kyouraku's lap. The girl was pretty; there was no denying that. Nanao would forgive herself if she also thought the girl was cheap looking. Her skirt barely existed and what did exist was riding up high. Her neckline was plunging and her makeup overdone. Given Nanao might be biased. Nanao took her drink and chugged it, feeling it burn the back of her throat.

"Way to go, Nanao-chan," Rangiku cheered. She quickly passed over her own drink and Nanao downed that too. If she was going to have to be here she certainly wasn't going to do it sober. "Come on," Rangiku called to the group. "I see Kira-kun and Renji-kun over there."

Their little group made their way over to the male Fukutaichos and scored another round of drinks. Nanao grabbed a nearby seat that faced her away from her Taicho and sipped her third drink slowly. She already felt a little lightheaded from the first two. Being drunk was one thing. Falling down drunk in front of all her colleagues was another. The group swelled as the lure of available women drew in more men, and everyone shouted to be heard over the pounding music. Nanao rubbed her temple as she finished off the third drink a half hour later and wondered how much distraction it would take to let her slip away from Matsumoto. She decided to test it by making a bathroom run. If Matsumoto didn't notice her going perhaps she could just slip out the back.

Getting to her feet, Nanao grimaced. She was definitely a little drunk. She'd nearly made a clean escape when someone shouted her name. Nanao cursed internally, but instead of Matsumoto, who was thoroughly engaged in a drinking game, she found Kiyone at her side tugging on her sleeve.

"Are you leaving?"

"I was thinking about it, yes," she admitted. Kiyone wouldn't make her stay and had never ratted her out when she'd snuck out of events in the past.

"You have got to take him with you," Kiyone demanded pointing over to the table her Taicho occupied. Nanao glanced in the direction she'd been avoiding looking and frowned to see even more women had joined the table. The idiotic little 5th seat had her chest smashed up against Kyouraku's arm and was whispering and giggling in his ear. Nanao took a small amount of pleasure in that his smile looked faked to her, and he was doing his best to include the whole group in conversation as opposed to indulging the woman. Not that he couldn't do whatever he wanted.

"It's not my place," Nanao answered sharply. "If you want to take your Taicho home, just do it."

"He'll just pat my head and tell me not to worry."

"Well, he might be right." Nanao shifted her gaze to Ukitake. He didn't look particularly ill and was smiling and laughing with the group. She could see more than one girl swoon as he shot them his infamous smile. "He looks fine."

"He shouldn't be out this late."

"Kiyone-san, if you're jealous you should just confess."

"I am NOT jealous," the little woman screeched. "I'm only concerned for his health."

"Then you're going to have to trust him to know his own limits." Nanao glanced away from the group as the 5th seat's hand slid down her Taicho's side and disappeared down his thigh under the table. She didn't want to know his reaction to that. "I've got to go."

Kiyone grabbed her arm. "If you try to go I'll tell Rangiku-san and she'll drag you back." Nanao glanced at her surprised. "But if you help me get my Taicho home, I'll help you sneak out."

Nanao narrowed her eyes. She did not like being threatened. Fine, how bad could it be? She was going to have to deal with this sooner or later considering Ukitake would eventually have an attack and it'd be left to her once again to drag her drunken Taicho home for the good of the 8th division. She wasn't stupid enough to think he'd be alone all the time. Placing a firm hand on Kiyone's shoulder she marched them both over to their Taichos. Kyouraku spotted her headed their way and Nanao had the slightest satisfaction in seeing him inch away from the woman. The woman noticed his shift and looked around to spot her giving her a nasty glare. Nanao kept her face carefully neutral.

"Ise-san, Kotetsu-san," Ukitake greeted with a slight nod.

"Sir, how is your health?" Nanao cut to the chase. Her head was swimming and she wanted to leave.

Ukitake looked bewildered. "Uh, just fine, Ise-san."

"Your 3rd seat is concerned that you shouldn't be out this late," Nanao said bluntly shoving Kiyone a step forward. Kiyone turned bright red and Nanao thought it served her right for trying to force her into this. "She'd like to politely request you return to the division."

"Your concern is appreciated," Ukitake said smiling kindly at the girl. Nanao doubted that it actually was, but that was none of her business. There were times when Kyouraku had been annoyed with her for dragging him home too. "But I really am ok, Kotetsu-san."

"There you have it. Can I go now?"

"NANAO-CHAN!" Nanao groaned. Of course she'd stayed too long and Matsumoto had noticed her escape. "Oh good! There you are!"

"Yes?" Nanao asked frostily.

"Iba-san is impugning the good name of the SWA." Nanao felt her blood boil. It really was the last straw for the evening. That little cretin was always trying to harass the women's association and pretend the SMA was better. She'd thought he'd learned to shut up when she'd convinced Kurotsuchi Taicho he needed the SMA's entire budget for experiments instead.

A server passed by with shots and Nanao reached out and snagged one. She threw it back with a practiced ease that was sure to lift a few eyebrows. She'd done more than enough shots when she'd snuck out to meet men in the Rukongai. Iba was the perfect candidate to take out her frustration on. Loosening her Fukutaicho badge she tossed it to Matsumoto. They were off hours and there was no reason to sully the position with what she was about to do.

"Where is he?" Nemu silently pointed the way and Nanao headed over to the table Iba and a few other men were occupying. "You've got something to say?"

"Ise-san," Iba greeted neutrally.

"You've got something to say about the SWA?"

"Not really," he said with a shrug. "It's just a surprise that your ridiculous club still has funding when the SMA was doing so much more good. A bake sale? Really? That was the best you could do? And then to waste the profits on a trip to the living world?"

"It was a team building exercise, and you're just jealous because you weren't invited."

"Like I wanted to be."

"Clearly you did, or you wouldn't be this bitter weeks later. For the most part SWA funds go to scholarship for female students and to help support struggling Shinigami families. You know that. The SMA never did anything even remotely close. It's not the SWA's fault that you've been rude to all of us and none of the women wanted to invite you out. Maybe in the future you can be a bit more polite."

"I could care less. I have better things to do than go dancing in the living world."

"Too busy playing with yourself?" Matsumoto threw in from behind her.

"The SWA is a club for gossiping and swapping beauty tips, nothing more."

"The SMA _was_ a club for stroking your own ego," Nanao said sharply.

"At least the SMA didn't have to sleep with its superiors to get funding."

He expected her to leap across the table and attack him for that one. He was an idiot. Instead she smirked. "If you had tried that tactic, you definitely wouldn't have gotten funding in the first place."

Iba growled. "You think you're so much better than all of us," he yelled standing up and slamming his hands on the table in front of him. "If I wasn't against hitting women-"

"You'd what?" she challenged. "You aren't against hitting women. You just know you'd get your ass handed to you."

With that Iba launched himself across the table and Nanao moved out of the way of his punch. She had to admit she was grateful he'd clearly been drinking too as they were both sloppier than they should be. He crashed into another table and rolled back to his feet facing her.

She dodged a second fist and slammed a knee into his abdomen as he passed her. The crowd gathering grumbled in sympathetic pain and she twisted to face Iba. He charged again and she blocked with her forearm before ducking low and landing another hit to his stomach. The adrenaline ran through her and she backed up as he threw another punch at her. She grunted as a kick nailed her in the side.

He hurled himself at her again and she rolled with it, using her legs to slam his lower half up and over her flipping with him to land heavily on top of him and punching him hard in the jaw. She felt the pain of the hit radiate up her wrist and hardly cared. He twisted and she felt a kido shock run up her leg throwing her off to the side.

Fine, if he wanted to bring kido into it that was his idiotic mistake. Nanao felt the spell she was casting run down her arm to her fingertips and struggled to keep it at a lower level that wouldn't kill the moron. He threw a kido at her and she dodged letting the kido spell she was working lengthen out into a whip-like shape. This was going to hurt him. She brought her arm back and struggled as someone grasped her wrist. Suddenly an overwhelming reiatsu slammed down on them and Nanao recognized it as her Taichos just as she saw Ukitake holding Iba back. She didn't have to guess who now had a firm grasp on her wrist and waist. She let the spell flicker and die.

"Enough," Shunsui said firmly. His reiatsu eased up as Ukitake pinned both of Iba's arms. "Outside now. Wait for me."

Nanao shrugged him off and held her head high as she followed his orders and marched outside. Most of the SWA followed in her wake.

"Glasses-chan, that was awesome," Yachiru chirped as she jumped around her. "No 11th division party is worthwhile without a fight. If Pink-chan hadn't gotten in the way you'd have totally annihilated him. How'd you make that kido whip thingy?"

"It's complicated."

"Ukitake Taicho," Kiyone squeaked seeing the white-haired Taicho approaching them.

"Ladies," he greeted. "I'll see you all home. Ise-san, Shunsui will be out in a minute."

"Well, then I guess I'll just be on my way."

"He said he'd be out in a minute to talk with you."

"You can't expect her to wait around for him," Rangiku argued. "That's so awkward."

"I do expect her to wait, because she's his Fukutaicho and he gave an order," Ukitake said simply.

"But he's the one that broke up with her," Rukia put in. Ukitake looked surprised that the women knew anything at all and glanced back at Nanao questioningly.

"It's fine." Nanao was sure she was turning bright red. "I'm ok waiting for him, but thank you all for the concern."

"Whatever you say," Matsumoto said tossing her badge back. Nanao caught it as she saw Kyouraku exiting the party. He made his way to her side as the rest of the SWA and Ukitake headed out.

"That was rather immature," Shunsui noted standing next to her as she retied her Fukutaicho badge back on her arm.

Nanao rolled her eyes. "It was after hours. I'm allowed to get in a fight with whomever I want. What are you even doing out here?"

"I wanted to make sure you were ok."

"I'm fine," she said and started to walk away from him. He followed and she crossed her arms and tried not to glare. "You don't need to see me home. Go back to the party, Taicho." He sighed, but kept pace with her. "I have it on very good authority that there is a 5th seat at that party determined to fuck you tonight. You should go back and have a good time."

"You're mad at me."

"Very astute, Taicho."

"So you go drinking and punching?" He grabbed her wounded hand and ran a thumb over her busted knuckles softly. Even the light touch made her flinch and tug her hand back.

"Seemed better than drinking and fucking," she said nastily. "You really should go back. I wasn't joking. You have an easy lay back there." She stepped into a shunpo and got to her front door in record time. She stumbled a little bit on the landing, but she was going to blame that on the alcohol. Unfortunately despite her speed, Kyouraku was faster and more sober.

"Careful," he said lightly watching her fumble for her keys.

"Screw you."

He moved past her and tugged out his own set of keys. "Let me."

"You shouldn't have those anymore," she argued trying to grab them out of his hands. He held them up high and she lunged for them. He backed her up against the door and pinned her there. "You never asked for them back."

"I never wanted them back," she said sourly and then pressed her lips together annoyed that she'd even been that honest.

"Why are you making this so hard on me?"

"I wasn't the one who decided to end it," she argued rolling her hips against him as he held her there just for emphasis. "The SWA can't figure out why I don't want you. I tried to explain, but I couldn't."

"Try again," he said. "I'd like to know too."

"I don't know if I want to marry you."

He looked genuinely surprised at that. "Sometimes I talk in my sleep, Nanao-chan. You're going to have to remind me about when we discussed marriage."

"We didn't, but there's no dating you. The closest it would come to is an omiai. If I choose you now, that's it forever. Unless I want to destroy my entire life, transfer out of the division that has been my family for most of it, and lose my oldest and closest friend. They don't understand that. The girls asked if I thought I was going to find someone better, but that isn't it. It's too much. I don't know what I want, and I don't know when I'll want it, but I just feel suffocated." She hiccupped air as she tried to repress her tears. "I can't breathe when I'm with you and I can't breathe when I'm not. I've ruined everything."

"Nanao-chan," he said soothingly backing away from her and cupping her face with his big warm hands. "Why didn't you say any of this?"

"Because you weren't supposed to make it so hard. Because this wasn't how I was supposed to feel. It was just supposed to be sex. Why couldn't it just be sex?" She pulled her face free of his hands and sniffled.

Shunsui sighed and reached around her unlocking her door. "Come on, let's get you to bed. I'm going to do a kido on that hand. It really was a good punch, Nanao-chan."

She followed his directions and let him brace her when she almost fell over trying to get her shoes off. He followed her to her room and didn't say a word when she stripped in front of him, just grabbed her night shirt off the end of her bed and helped her pull it down over her head. He also didn't comment on the fact that it was one of his shirts.

Nanao brushed her teeth and her hair and came back to the bedroom to find him sitting on the end of her bed looking deep in thought. He jumped when she cleared her throat and instantly moved to pull the blankets back for her to slip in.

Taking her hand he started up a light healing kido. "You know what's funny, Nanao-chan?"

"Hmm?" She was already starting to doze off and she really wasn't in the mood for jokes.

"I never even thought that hard about marriage. It's been so far from my mind for so long I didn't even think that far ahead. I just wanted to take you to dinner in public."

"That's senseless. We went to dinner in public all the time before this started." That triggered another thought. "Did you know they thought we were breaking up?"

"Huh?"

"The SWA. They thought we'd been sleeping together for decades and been having problems the past couple months. They thought we were fucking when we were just friends and thought we were breaking up when we were fucking. They didn't even believe me when I corrected them at first. All that effort for nothing. I just drew more attention to us instead of less."

"You told them we were sleeping together?"

Nanao shrugged and squirmed down further under the blankets. "If they're going to spread rumors and gossip they might as well have the facts." She started to drift off and then had another passing thought. Unfortunately when she got drunk she tended to voice each and every thing that went through her head. "I know I don't have any right to say it, but I don't think you should fuck the 5th seat. You can have a better rebound than that."

He kissed her knuckles lightly as he let the healing kido die out. "I had no plans of taking her home."

"I'm sorry about everything," she said blinking at him tiredly as he pulled off her glasses. "I should have never started with you when I knew I couldn't commit. I just don't know if I want to be married, and I don't know if I ever want kids. I mean the concept is ok, but they're a lot of work and you barely manage the minimum of paperwork. Also squeezing a watermelon-sized human out of my body freaks me out. Why don't more women say that? Everyone talks about how it's so great, but I like my body just the way it is. I don't even know how to be a mother. I mean to recruits sure, but to little bity defenseless things? That's terrifying." Her head was swimming and that last shot had definitely been a bad idea. Hmmm, Kyouraku looked confused. "Are you ok?"

"You were thinking about having kids with me?"

"I mean sex does make babies. It's sort of hard not to think about it. Although I suppose men don't as much because they can just bail. There was this one time a decade ago when I thought I was pregnant for like a week because my period was late and it was more terrifying than going up against the Soutaicho. Given I hated the guy I'd slept with. I cried when I got my period I was so relieved. At least with you I wouldn't be worried about the other half of the genetics. Well, except maybe laziness if that's genetic. But then your family would be all over us and they'd probably make snide comments to him about his mother being a commoner and I'd want to set them on fire."

"We have a boy?" Kyouraku asked sounding amused.

"Or a girl. Either way your family would be unbearable. Oh, and Ukitake-san would rot the kid's teeth right out of its head with all the sweets he'd give it. So then I'd have to fight your best friend and you'd be torn on whose side to choose, and it's all just such a terrible mess. To be frank, I'd expect you to take my side in that fight. Not even your best friend is allowed to hit the mother of your children."

Kyouraku started laughing.

"It isn't funny," she said doing her best to glare at his blurry shape as she struggled to sit more upright. "I really wouldn't forgive you."

"Sweet Nanao-chan, if we had a little boy or a little girl and you felt the need to take a swing at my best friend to protect the integrity of their teeth I promise you I'd back you up." He made an x over his heart and smiled at her. "I'd probably be laughing too hard to do any damage, but I'd at least take your side."

"And when I tried to set your family on fire?"

"Who do you think burned down the west wing of the manor when he was just a boy?"

Nanao's eyes widened at that. That was a notorious story in his family. But the way she'd always heard it his father had fallen asleep smoking a kiseru. No one had been hurt, but they'd lost a large chunk of the manor and had to rebuild. "That got blamed on your father."

"Yeah." Shunsui chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Luckiest I've ever been. I stopped playing with kido in the house after that."

"Children would definitely be a problem with your genetics."

"Like you've never accidently burned something down with a kido gone astray," he pouted. Nanao blushed. "You have!" he said pointing at her accusingly. "What was it?"

"I had a terrible roommate in the Academy. She hated me, hated having to share a room with a child. She'd sexile me as often as possible and usually I'd just go to the library, but one night I needed in to get my notes to study for a big test in the morning. I only meant to burn down the door, but it got a little out of hand and I burnt down half of the dormitory."

"That was you?" He looked positively giddy. "I heard the reports that a ton of the girls had to be moved into the boys' dormitories and make it co-ed. I remember because I kept whining to Jyuu that nothing like that ever happened to us in the academy."

"It was embarrassing. I got strict reprimands, but also got a room to myself as everyone refused to live with me after that so I suppose it all worked out."

Shunsui frowned at her. "Weren't you lonely?"

"I was always lonely," she said with a yawn and a shrug. "Being surrounding by people never seemed to change that. It's why I loved the 8th so much. It was the first time I didn't feel so alone. But really, the point is we shouldn't have children. Even if they would be cute, they would definitely burn something down." She yawned again and curled further down in her blankets.

"You should get some sleep," he said. "Sleep off the alcohol. I'll leave you some water and aspirin next to your bed for the morning. You can come in late if you need to."

"Stay till I fall asleep?"

"Nanao." She blinked up at him and even without her glasses she could tell he looked sad. Oh, that's right. He wasn't even supposed to be in her home anymore.

"I miss you." The truth slipped out between her lips before she could stop it.

"You're too drunk to have this conversation, sweetheart."

"I know," she sighed. "I shouldn't have said that. It's not fair to you. I'm not allowed to say I don't want more and then tell you I miss you. I know that."

"My love wasn't supposed to be overwhelming, Nanao-chan. It wasn't supposed to make you feel trapped. If that's the way it made you feel then you made the right choice not offering me more."

"I'm terrible with relationships."

"I don't know about that," he said running his fingers through the strands of her hair. "We've done pretty good the past few decades."

"Romantic relationships." She turned her head into his stroking hand.

"Yeah, well you and me both." She rolled her eyes at that. He had romantic relationships all the time. "At least you have the excuse of youth. I've had hundreds and hundreds of years to get it right and still haven't managed it successfully. Maybe I should start doing it your way and not even try. You can't fail if you don't try, right? You're always more efficient and practical than me. Maybe you're right."

She snorted. "I'm always right. You should listen to me more often."

"I've missed you too."

She started at that and tried to overcome the alcohol buzzing through her head and the tiredness trying to drag her down. "Have you? It doesn't seem like it. And why would you? There are lots of girls who would like to be with you the way you want, marry you, have your kids even if they do burn stuff down."

"Nanao, I haven't had expectations about marriage or children in years. You get old enough, you just start to assume it's not something that's going to happen for you. If you wanted those things with me I'd be delighted, but that was never a requirement of my love. I just wanted to be with you. I wanted to take you out to dinner and maybe even hold your hand in front of our friends. I wanted everyone to be jealous that I was the one that got to go home with Nanao-chan every night. I wanted to be like we were before all this started, just a little bit more. I never ever wanted you to feel pressured or imprisoned by me. That's the last thing I would want. I wish you'd told me what you were really feeling. Not that I can change it, but it all at least makes more sense now. I'm sorry I made it so hard on you."

"I'm too drunk for this conversation."

He chuckled at that and leaned his forehead against hers for a moment. "Go to sleep, darling. Take a half day tomorrow. The office will survive it."

"You're really not going to sleep with the skank?"

He laughed again. "No. I'm really not going to sleep with the skank. I'll see you tomorrow."

She felt herself drifting off and noticed that despite his protest he made no move to leave. He was going to stay till she fell asleep just like she requested. He really was too kind to her. Sleep overcame her quickly.

* * *

 **A/N: I only have a couple chapters to go on this story depending on how I break them up. Debating my next story. Thinking maybe something AU as I'm still not sure how I feel about canon right now. As always reviews are an addiction for me and I savor them all :)**


	14. Contracts

Shunsui scanned for her reiatsu when he woke up. It was a habit he didn't seem to be able to break. At least this time he had the excuse of checking on her well-being. He'd stayed till she fell asleep last night, despite his better judgment, and then done a healing kido on her head that would hopefully make the hangover less intense this morning.

"Of course she's already there," he muttered locating her in the office. It didn't matter how many times he told her to come in late she was always right on time. Getting out of bed he figured he better get ready and go in and check on her.

He wasn't sure what to make of last night's conversation. On one hand it was good to know more about what fueled her commitment issues with him, but on the other it was disheartening because there wasn't much he could do about the way she felt. He couldn't change his family or his social status, and he could tell her till he was blue in the face that there was no pressure, but he knew her well enough to know that wouldn't be sufficient. He supposed she wasn't entirely wrong. He would want a relationship with her to be long term and serious even without marriage and children. She was young to settle down and perhaps it was unfair of him to ask. At the same time he couldn't help his own feelings on the matter anymore than she could. There was a reason they'd been playing a cat and mouse game for so many years, it was so they could have some sort of relationship while they waited to get on the same page, but the sex had shot that all to hell.

After he'd showered and dressed he shunpoed into the office. He really hadn't planned on going in today having assumed he'd get too drunk at the party, but she always seemed to throw off his plans. He'd barely started drinking when she came in, and she'd certainly had a rougher night than he had. He greeted division members as he slowed down to a walk and tried to act casual when he entered the office, shutting the door behind him.

"It's 10 AM," he noted. "This doesn't really qualify as taking a half day."

"I always sleep terribly when I drink." She looked up from some forms she was reviewing and he could see her bloodshot eyes even behind her glasses. "I've been up and unable to go back to sleep since 5 AM. It seemed silly to stay home. Besides I had some work to do."

"You should leave early then. It's Friday and no one will miss you just this once. Maybe take a late afternoon nap. They always make me feel better."

"Perhaps I will," she said surprising him. He really thought he was going to have to make it a direct order. What she thought she was proving by staying in the office even when she was miserably sick or hurt he'd never quite determined, but she'd always refused to budge in the past. "Thank you for taking care of me last night. My hand would have been hurting something awful today if it weren't for you."

"It's no problem. Especially not after all the times you've taken care of me. You're lucky that unlike you I'm not a violent drunk. The worst I've ever gotten injured drunk was when I feel off that roof while reciting love poetry to you as you tried to get me home. If it hadn't hurt so much the face you made when I tumbled off the roof would have been hilarious."

He expected her to make a joke, but instead she just shifted uncomfortably in her seat and glanced away from him looking like she was debating bolting from the office. Perhaps he shouldn't have brought up the love poetry. This new friendship was going to be hard to navigate when he didn't know what was ok and what wasn't. Nanao took a deep breath and threw her shoulders back as if she was steeling herself for a fight. Instead she changed the subject. "I have something I need you to look over."

"I made sure to finish everything yesterday, Nanao-chan." He really hadn't come in to work, just to check on her. She rose from her desk with a stack of papers and made her way over to him.

"It's not specifically work related."

"Oh?" He took the pages from her and lifted an eyebrow at the header. What exactly was a love contract? "What is this, Nanao-chan?"

She fidgeted and blushed. "Per our conversation last night I am not good at romantic relationships. That being said I do miss spending time with you and having sex with you. There is also no point in hiding any such relationship because all of our friends and coworkers already think we're sleeping together regardless of our actions. I also seem to have no interest in having sex with other men anymore. I tried and couldn't go through with it. Barely got past the first kiss. That being the case, a long term sexual and romantic relationship with you might not be the worst thing ever, but I have stipulations. I'm not good with talking about my feelings, but I am very good with paperwork." She paused for a moment and he blinked at her. "It was the best I could do." She opened her hands in a pleading gesture.

He glanced from her to the contract in his hand and tried not to get his hopes up. It was so very Nanao to make a contract for a relationship. Shrugging his shoulders he made his way over to sit on the couch and skimmed over the first page. It mainly consisted of requirements of their relationship. No sleeping with other people. No public displays of affection that would be considered offensive by society's standards which was up to Nanao to determine. No sharing intimate details of their lives with division members. No mention of marriage for at least 100 years unless she brought it up. Children were also off the table unless she initiated the discussion. His family was to be kept as separate from their relationship as humanly possible. He flipped to the next page.

"Really, Nanao-chan? Deal breakers?"

"Yes, and I've left a page open for you to fill in as well. I know you say you don't like rules, but you must have certain things that would end a relationship. After all you've ended them with women in the past including me."

He scanned some of her listed items. Deal breakers included cheating on her, putting pressure on her for either marriage or children, leaving wet towels on the bed, restricting her from active duty, preferential treatment in the office, etc. He snorted as he read the bit about cunnilingis happening often and enthusiastically. They were all terms he could meet. He flipped the contract to a blank page for his deal breakers to be filled in. He glanced up and Nanao was holding out a pen. He scrawled one line and handed it back to her.

"There has to be more than that," she said taking it from his hands.

"It's the only thing that matters."

She read what he'd written and pursed her lips. And really at the end of the day she could write any contract she wanted. He'd meet her needs. This was his only deal breaker when it came to her.

"I should think it would be quite obvious that I'm in love with you," she said stiffly. She really was terrible at talking about her emotions – at least when she was sober. But it'd had to be addressed. The only reason why he would end a willing relationship with her was if she genuinely didn't love him and didn't want to be with him. "I wouldn't risk everything that matters to me for anyone else." And she meant that. He could see how scared she was it'd all go to hell despite her cool façade. He would have tried to comfort her if he'd thought it would make a difference, but really the only thing that would convince her was giving it a shot and him trying his best to reassure her over time. It'd be too much of a hassle if it was any other woman. Her, he didn't mind spending years persuading, as long as they spent those years together. "If that changes I will notify you and it will bring our contract to an end."

"You didn't think to add it to your list?"

"What?"

"Me not loving you. You had cheating on there, but nothing about love."

She flushed a brilliant shade of red. "It never crossed my mind that you'd stop loving me."

He smiled at that. "But you're worried I'd cheat on you?"

"Even if you didn't love me romantically anymore you'd still love me as a friend. You can love me and still get bored," she said looking at the contract instead of meeting his eyes. "You'd be kind about it, because you're you, but that would only make it worse." That wiped the smile right off his face.

"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you, Nanao-chan. I've had plenty of opportunities the past few weeks and couldn't stand any of them. I'd already come to terms with spending the next decade frustrated and alone in the shower. Sex with someone you love, well nothing else quite matches up. I think you'll enjoy it."

Her head snapped up at that. "Isn't that what we've been doing?"

"No. Nanao-chan was always holding back, and I didn't want to force you."

She snorted in a most un-ladylike way that he always enjoyed. "I don't think I was holding much back. If you think I've got some secret moves you haven't seen yet you're very much mistaken."

"May I?" he asked brushing his reiatsu up against hers. She lifted an eyebrow at him, but nodded her approval, opening her reiatsu up to him slightly so he could read her emotions. She still had a strict control on her reiatsu, but he didn't need her to let go, he only needed her to know what he was feeling. He let his own guards down and let his reiatsu wash over her.

She sucked in a sharp breath and he saw her knees wobble right before he stood up and pressed close to support her. "Shunsui," she said softly and it sounded like she wanted to cry. His own emotions of love and wanting and frustration stormed around them and he didn't draw back.

"Nanao-chan, I want so so much," he said quietly and the silent spiritual pressure surrounding them rippled at the desire. "And it's got nothing to do with marriage or babies or anything else society says we need to get to. This is just about what we want and what makes us happy."

"All this because of me?" she asked looking up at him wide-eyed and he hoped this wasn't the thing that scared her off for good, but she needed to know. If she really wanted this she had to know how much it meant to him. She had the fist not clutching the contract buried in his haori helping to hold herself up. "Why not show me this before?"

"I didn't want to make you feel like you had to return the feelings. Like I said, I didn't want to force you. But now you say you love me, so perhaps it isn't a burden?"

She laughed a bit at that. "You're always a burden. Sleeping, and drinking, and knocking my nice stable little world right off it's axis." She loosened her own hold over her reiatsu and he could feel the storm of her emotions - frustration and insecurity, but love and yearning too. He could soothe her insecurities and the frustration mirrored his own. There was an easy fix for that as well. The love, that was the important part, strong and real and he pulled her tighter to him and buried his face in her neck. They stood their quietly clinging to each other and just feeling each other for a moment.

"You do this during sex?" she asked quietly.

He laughed and started to lock his reiatsu down again as she did the same. "Not often. Only once before really and she didn't return the favor. I was very young and very stupid. She didn't love me. Used me to get what she wanted. I should have known when she didn't open up to me, but as I said I was very young and very blinded by love."

She softened at that pulling back from him slightly and pushing a strand of hair out of his face. "We both might faint if we do that during sex."

"Never know until we try," he said with a devilish grin. His hand trailed up her side and she shuddered against him. "Either way it'll be the best sex I've ever had."

"I'll add 'not loving me,' to my deal breaker list as well." She walked away from him and put the contract on the desk adding the line. "Are you sure there isn't anything else you'd like to add?"

"Nothing else is a deal breaker, Nanao-chan. We can work through anything else."

She pulled a form off her desk. "You need to fill this out and take it to the 1st."

"I thought I finished all of these yesterday," he pouted. What he really wanted to do was just pull her back into his arms and dance his way around the office. She was really going to give them a chance. Trying to stay in her good graces though, he took the form and glanced at it before grinning. "You're really going to make us fill this out?"

"Of course."

"You didn't before."

"Before we were just having sex. If the 1st required fraternization forms every time two shinigamis had sex with each other they'd never get any work done. But if you want to have an actual relationship then one is required. I filled out my part and signed. You just need to do the same. I assume you can take it to the Soutaicho and get it fast tracked with minimal pushback."

"I don't know about minimal pushback, but I can make sure it goes through." He was torn on how the old man would react to this news. Yama-jii didn't like change and he didn't like anything that might have the potential to adversely affect the functioning of his superior officers. Not that it really mattered how he reacted, this was one thing Shunsui was going to refuse to bend on. Shunsui had had decades to plan out his arguments supporting their relationship if it ever came to pass. Yama-jii didn't stand a chance.

Nanao looked concerned. "You really think he'll be very upset about it?"

"It'll be fine, Nanao-chan." He stood up and crossed to his desk filling out the form quickly. "It's really very businesslike."

"What did you expect? I don't think they want in-depth descriptions of people's personal lives."

"It might give the paper pushers at the 1st a little thrill if they did."

She rolled her eyes. "Would you go do it already?"

"Nanao-chan is anxious to be my lover," he teased delighted that he could.

"I'm anxious to have the whole thing settled one way or another," she clarified crossing her arms.

He smiled at that and put the form down walking to her and cupping her face with his hands. "I'll make sure it goes through Nanao-chan. Don't worry." Then he leaned down and pulled her into a gentle kiss. She didn't fight it, just melded her body to his, and he was sure he was the luckiest man in Soul Society. He pulled back from her reluctantly. "Worse comes to worse we know Jyuushiro will back me up in a fight against the old man."

"Are we sure he's going to stop hating me enough to back you up?"

"He never hated you. In fact he's always been quite fond of you. He just doesn't like to see me hurting. He'll be happy for us." Then it was his turn to frown and worry.

"What? What's wrong?"

"What if other people bring up marriage and babies, Nanao-chan?" She blinked and he hurried to explain. "I know the contract said I couldn't, but other people are going to joke about it. You know they are. I'll ask Jyuu not to, but he loves little kids. He'd definitely naturally pester us to settle down and give him some nieces and nephews. He'll respect my wishes if I say not to mention it, but I'm not sure I can stop everybody. Is that going to count as a breech of contract?"

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist snuggling into him with her head on his chest. He put his own arms around her and inhaled the scent of her there warm and willing against him. It really was a wonderful day. "It's not a breech of contract. That only applies to you. We can't stop all the other idiots talking. I can handle our friends if you can keep your family off my back."

He winced at that, and she must have felt it as she looked up at him questioningly. "I really will try my best," he said pleadingly. "It's just they've wanted me to settle down for so long and I've ignored them. They're going to be interested in any relationship I have. My grandmother especially is going to be interested in more heirs for the clan."

"I'm not noble," Nanao said pulling away from him slightly and he tightened his hold on her. He was not going to get this close and lose it now because of his pushy relations.

"I'll keep them as far away from you as I can," he promised. "I just don't want you to bolt if someone says something ridiculous. I want you to know I don't agree with them. I can go my whole life without getting married or having children as long as I get to come home to you."

"You should go. The sooner you approach the Soutaicho with this the sooner it will be done." He took that as her way of saying it'd be ok if his family was crazy as long as he took her side. She needn't worry. He'd always take her side against his clan. He loved them, but they were all far too meddlesome for their own good. He kissed her again before he released her and grabbed the form off the desk.

"You should try and get some sleep. Shut the door and take a nap on the couch. I'll be back before you know it. Don't miss me too much, Nanao-chan," he cooed. He made a ridiculous kissy face at her and she threw a paperweight at him. He dodged and laughed practically skipping out the door. His subordinates smiled indulgently as he hurried out of the division, all of them assuming Nanao had already kicked him out for the day.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry it's late! Work has been actually insane this week and I just went straight to bed when I got home last night. Sorry if there are errors as I proofed this in a hurry. Reviews make my weekend happy ;)**


	15. Secret Signals

A quick shunpo later Shunsui was at the 1st dancing around Yama-jii's Fukutaicho and right into his stuffy office.

"Shunsui," the old man greeted roughly. "I'm busy. Make an appointment."

"No can do, Yama-jii," he said happily. He shot the frustrated Fukutaicho a smile and plopped himself down in the chair opposite the Soutaicho's desk with no intention of moving.

"I just want to hand in some paperwork." The old man lifted a skeptical eyebrow, waved his Fukutaicho away, and pulled the offered form towards him. Scanning it quickly he switched from looking disbelieving to rather bored.

"I assume you're getting married then?"

"Did we fill out the wrong one?" Shunsui frowned trying to get a better look at the paperwork. After all that concern he couldn't imagine Nanao would get the form wrong. "That's just a fraternization form for people who are dating, correct?"

"Is Ise-san pregnant then?"

"What? No, Yama-jii, it's just so we can officially date."

"Is this what the two of you have been fighting about the last couple of months? Did you lie to her and say you'd turned the form in earlier?"

"She never asked me to turn it in before now, and we haven't been fighting. Well we have been, sort of, but only for a few weeks, not months."

"Regardless, I don't understand why you're turning this in now and looking proud about it. If anything I should scold you for turning in paperwork a couple decades or so late."

"Decades late? Yama-jii, Nanao-chan only just agreed to date me. We weren't anything but friends before. You are the very first person I am informing so you should really feel honored. I haven't even told Jyuu yet."

The old man snorted at that. "Shunsui, the Onmitsukido reports directly to me, and you know I keep tabs on my superior officers and anything that might affect their performance. I've known about you and Ise-san's relationship for years, so don't try to pull a fast one on me now. Whatever game this is, I won't be participating."

Shunsui's mouth fell open in shock. "You should tell the Onmitsukido to do a better job then. My relationship with Nanao-chan has been completely platonic up until very recently, and we're filing the form on time. Why didn't you yell at us for not filing if you believed that was true?"

Yama-jii stared at him trying to assess the veracity of his statements. "I just assumed you were too lazy to get it done and Ise Fukutaicho let it slide when I didn't make an issue of it."

"Nanao-chan lets very little slide and would have had excellent resources to motivate me if we'd actually had the relationship you thought we did."

The Soutaicho's eyes narrowed. "She stayed at your home and you at hers many times over the last couple decades."

"Various reasons," Shunsui said with a shrug. He was a little comforted to know the Onmitsukido was at least not spying directly into his home and bedroom, not that he thought they wouldn't if the old man thought he was treasonous or simply wanted to know, but at least they weren't just looking for personal affairs. He wasn't that sort of exhibitionist and Nanao would have definitely been displeased. "We've taken care of each other when we're sick, injured, or more often in my case when I'm hung over. Sometimes it would just get late and make more sense to stay where we were than shunpoing home. She slept in my guest room and I would sleep on her couch."

"The reports of random women going home with you dropped as well."

He made a sheepish gesture with his hands. "It seemed unfair to take women home and then imagine they were someone else. I didn't say I wasn't in love with her all those years. I just said we weren't in that type of relationship." Then he got curious even though he knew he shouldn't. "Were the Onmitsukido following Nanao-chan too?"

"It seemed unnecessary if they were watching you."

Shunsui started laughing. Nanao played the game better than he did it seemed. He could convince most of the Seireitei he was a drunk, lazy, womanizer to be taken less seriously and watched less closely, but Nanao had somehow made herself invisible other than her interactions with him. How she'd done it he really couldn't fathom because he was always hyperaware of her, but she seemed to have a gift for it. She'd probably gotten lucky more often than him the last couple decades with no one the wiser, and she was much more dangerous than everyone seemed to think. How she'd gotten people to completely dismiss the fact that she was a kido master and think of her as nothing but a paper pusher was beyond him. Even in the 8th you didn't get the Fukutaicho position just for being pretty. Well, he knew who he'd send if he needed anything covert done, no need to lose that advantage now. "I don't know how to convince you, but we weren't dating. The form is exactly what it is and handed in on time to boot. If you could just sign off on it I'll be on my way, because I know it will put Nanao-chan more at ease."

"You and your games," the old man muttered, but reached for his pen all the same. "I don't know what you stand to gain by lying about it, but have it your way. I'd rather have a functional division than win some stupid game I don't even know the end prize for."

Shunsui thought about correcting him again, slightly insulted, but thought better of it. What did he care what the old man thought as long as he gave his blessing? The important thing was making Nanao feel comfortable with the situation. He stayed silent as the Soutaicho signed his approval on the form and pushed it back towards him with a grunt.

"Have my Fukutaicho file it." Shunsui grabbed the form and stood up to leave. "And Shunsui?"

"Yes?"

"You should get her pregnant before your family can interfere. They won't like that she's not a noble, but they'll be pleased enough with a reiatsu-heavy heir. They'll treat her unfairly, but I assume you can insulate her from that."

"I'm going to keep my family as far away from her as possible," he confirmed. Not that he planned on knocking her up anytime soon, but he still wanted his family as far removed from their relationship as he could make them. At least until he could convince her he was worth the interference.

"Despite everything, I have every confidence you'll make an excellent father. Especially with Ise Fukutaicho to keep you in line."

"Yama-jii, it really isn't like that."

"Of course not," the old man said gruffly. "See that that gets filed."

Shunsui smiled to himself as he left the office. He gave an annoyed looking Sasakibe the form with a nod. The man's annoyed look morphed into a knowing smile before telling him he'd get it filed right away. Shunsui had always believed Sasakibe had a soft spot for Nanao. They were both extremely formal with each other, but Sasakibe respected competency and Shunsui knew Nanao was a delight to work with if you actually did your work. Although he also found her delightful when she was chucking paperweights at his head. He shunpoed back to the office with a distinct bounce in his step.

Throwing the office door open, Shunsui was entertained to see Nanao jerk up from the couch, having obviously taken the nap he'd ordered. Her hair was mussed and she scrambled to jam her glasses back on her face and straighten her appearance as she sat up. She looked much better than she had this morning. She crossed her arms and made a face that warned him not to bring it up. "Well?"

He smiled but said nothing about her lack of professionalism for sleeping on the job. Shunsui debated keeping the news simple and just telling her the Soutaicho approved, but in the end it didn't feel honest. "To be perfectly frank, Yama-jii thought I'd neglected to file the paperwork for a couple decades and that you'd found out a few months ago and been upset. Apparently he's used the Onmitsukido to ascertain the nature of our relationship and knows that we've been together for years. He's fine with it and filed the paperwork to end our fight."

"He had the Onmitsukido following us and still thought we were together?" she hissed quietly and he could see her rage building.

"Following me to be precise. My lovely Nanao-chan has somehow convinced everyone she is above all moral reproach and not worth looking into."

"And so the student surpasses the master," she stated with a shake of her head. "He honestly thought we've been dating for years?"

"He originally assumed I'd either proposed marriage or impregnated you and that was why I was turning in the form now."

Nanao stood up sharply from the couch and he wondered if he'd gone too far giving her that bit of information. She'd said it didn't matter if other people brought up the topics, but perhaps he was not supposed to mention it if they did. She brushed past him and into the hallway. "Enjoji-san." Their third seat stuck his head out of the office he shared with the 4th and 5th seat. "Taicho and I are leaving early today. We don't expect to be contacted for anything less than an invasion, do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Enjoji said saluting swiftly.

"Everyone is to work normal hours and we will see you Monday morning," Nanao said curtly. She shooed Shunsui out of the way and closed the office door marching smartly out of the division. He trailed behind her wondering what was going through her mind. They were a block away from the division before she spoke again. "Your place or mine?"

"Huh?"

"Do you want to do this at your place or mine?"

"Nanao-chan," he said teasingly, assuming he was misunderstanding her, "Are you sneaking us out to have an afternoon liaison?"

"It seems only fair since everyone from the Soutaicho down to the SWA believes we've been doing it for years anyway." He didn't hide the surprise on his face at that. She smiled slightly and pressed against him after making sure there wasn't an audience on the street. "I want to know if we faint or not."

He grinned at that and tugged her to him, shunpoing home in one quick step. She let out a breathless little sound of surprise as he carried her through the front door and pressed her between him and the wall. His erection was already tenting his pants and he wondered again at her ability to reduce him to the levels of a quivering teenage boy. His lips found hers and she eagerly returned his kiss molding herself to him. He was delighted when she opened her reiatsu to him and let it wash over him. All her love and wanting was almost more than he could take. His only recourse was to open his own soul in return.

It crashed over both of them and she gave a soft little cry that had him lifting her up and her legs wrapping around his hips. "This is definitely an abuse of power," he murmured as he trailed kisses down her throat. She rolled her hips against him and he grunted.

"We earned it," she said tugging on his hair and kissing him again. "Well, at least I earned it. You just got lucky. I need you."

He grinned at that, feeling the need in her reiatsu mirror her words. "You have me." Kissing her again he wondered if they really would pass out. He was slightly worried about lasting considering he was feeling two people's arousal at once.

"Bed," she panted dropping her legs and tugging on his arm. She brushed against his front as she tried to move down the hallway and they both shuddered as he reacted to her. She braced her hand against the wall and took a steading breath. "Was it like this when you shared reiatsus the last time?"

"No," he said nuzzling her temple. "Nothing has ever been like this."

She tugged his hand again and this time he followed her to his bedroom. She started pulling off her uniform and he wondered again how he could be this turned on before either of them had even shed their clothes. He reached for her and helped slide her undergarments off as she shoved the haoris off his shoulders. Crowding her as he tore off the rest of his clothes, she dropped back onto the bed.

He debated just taking her but ended up sinking to his knees in front of her. He gripped her thighs gently and parted her widely in front of him feeling her reiatsu jitter with equal measures of nervousness and anticipation. His tongue darted out to trace her folds and she arched with a cry. He grabbed her hips and rode out the wave of pleasure with her. She wasn't kidding about enjoying his mouth on her. She might like this more than he liked blowjobs and that was saying something. He kissed her slipping his tongue into her channel before moving up to suck her clit into his mouth while sliding a hand down around his cock. He tightened his grip on himself trying to stem off the orgasm, but Nanao felt it through their shared connection and gave a breathy little scream that put them both right back on the edge. He took a steading breath and tasted her again more firmly licking and caressing every part of her that he could reach. She was so close and consequently so was he. Oh how he'd missed her. The uncontrollable thought passed through him and with it a brief flash of sadness and frustration that had accompanied the past few weeks for him. Nanao frowned and sat up, pressing his face away from her with gentle hands.

"I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for," he said sincerely. "You weren't sure if you wanted this. It would have been worse if you'd lied to spare my feelings. It was just a passing thought." It was true enough. He didn't want to talk about this any further, he just wanted to taste her again, feel her when she dropped over the edge. The heat in their reiatsus flamed up between them once more.

She gave him a serious look for a moment and then issued a command. "Get on the bed." He lifted an eyebrow and she tugged on his shoulders. "Just in case we do pass out I should probably be on top."

"Very practical, Nanao-chan," he answered with a smirk. He followed her guiding hands and lay back before her, eagerly anticipating her next move, all thoughts of the past few weeks swept from his mind. He expected her to be swift considering how close both of them were, but she paused to suck his straining erection into her small hot mouth and he groaned and grabbed the sheets to keep himself from pressing her down further on his dick. It was unnecessary anyway as she quickly engulfed more of him into her hot wet heat bobbing her head quickly. Her hand encircled the base of his cock tightly cutting off his orgasm again and effectively stopping her own. He didn't think one of them could come without the other with their current connection.

She lifted her head and met his eyes. Her eyes were a dark stormy violet and he wished he could capture that color and recreate it, but the thought was quickly lost as she raised herself up and slipped his cock inside her, sinking down slowly until he was fully sheathed. He shivered and tried to hold it together as Nanao curled forward against him and muttered a perfectly foul curse. "That feels so good."

It was odd to feel at once contained and filled, but despite it's strangeness it was overwhelmingly pleasing. When she moved into a gentle rock he thought he might die. Neither of them could keep it slow for long as they rode high on each other's passion. The pace increased exponentially and her nails bit into his shoulders as his fingers dug into her hips and he plowed up and into her.

"Oh, Shunsui, oh there," she hissed as he nailed her g-spot and he hardly needed the words of encouragement. The feeling was incredible. He'd hit that spot until he died if given the choice. He lifted one hand to jerk her down towards him and caught one of her nipples in his mouth giving it a hard suck and enjoying her head lolling forward bonelessly to rest against the pillows over his shoulder as their hips never missed a thrust. The soft uncontrollable sounds she was making in his ear were driving him closer and closer to the edge.

Nanao's hips sped up and he shifted a hand from her hips to slide between their bodies and touch her engorged clit. They both let out a cry as Nanao's whole body shuddered and her pleasure washed over them in pre-orgasmic bliss. He continued his touches, even though he was starting to get worried they actually were going to faint from it, and she lifted herself back up and away from him, sinking down and raising up on his cock in three quick successions before tightening into a quivering mass and tumbling into orgasm. Her reiatsu spiked and between that and her muscles clinching down around him, his own orgasm hammered into him. He grabbed for her blindly as his whole body went taught as a bowstring and he released inside her, their turbulent energy filling and mixing in the air. Nanao cried out again as his orgasm dragged her body into a second round of crashing emotion. She crumpled forward back on to his chest and they both laid together breathing hard.

"So we didn't pass out," Nanao said between breaths.

He chuckled and traced absent patterns on the bare skin of her back. "Sorry to disappoint."

She lifted her head to look down at him with a happy satisfied expression. "It would be dangerous if we passed out every time we did it this way." She flicked her contented reiatsu against his and if he'd been a cat he would have purred for her. "It's better this way. Opens up a whole realm of sexual positions that were formerly off the table with our reiatsus connected like this."

She was going to kill him. He wanted her again even though he wasn't sure his body could take it. He felt her amusement at his frustration through their bond and smiled up at her. "I love you." The words were out and he winced reflexively.

"I love you too," she answered without even a slight ripple of upset or distress in her reiatsu.

He shifted and slipped out of her, rolling them over so he could kiss her thoroughly. They broke apart a few moments later breathless and leaning back towards their previous aroused state. He'd been a young idiot to think what he'd felt about that girl all those years ago was anywhere near this.

"I'm going to pull back now," she said softly retracting her reiatsu away from him slowly. "If we stay like this we'll just get in an endless sex cycle and die here."

"Not a bad way to go," he commented kissing her shoulder, but pulled his reiatsu back as well.

"I'm updating the contract to include a clause about us doing this often."

"I don't think we'll need the contract to guarantee that, Nanao-chan. I intend on harassing you with my reiatsu as often as possible, including boring long meetings."

"That's extremely unprofessional."

"More so than leaving the office in the middle of the day to have sex?"

She slapped his chest and pushed him off of her. "Don't make me regret it, and don't expect it in the future." He just grinned and reached for her again trying to cuddle around her. She squirmed away from him and wiggled off the bed.

"Hey!" He pouted at her. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Home," she replied absently reaching for her scattered clothes and he felt his stomach drop out of him. Was she serious? She glanced back at him as she put on her bra and his emotions must have been written on his face. "Oh. No. I'm coming back, but I didn't plan to come straight here, and if I'm staying all weekend I'll need changes of clothes and a few other things."

"You're staying the whole weekend?"

She blushed a pretty pink and he tried to file the memory away for later of her standing their flushed in nothing but her bra. "I mean if you want me to. I shouldn't have assumed. I could stay now and just go home later tonight, or head home in the morning, or however this is supposed to work." She glanced around his room avoiding eye contact and looking lost.

"Of course you should stay." He leapt out of bed and pulled her into a loose comforting hug. "I didn't mean it that way. I just thought for a second you were leaving me for the night. I thought, well, I thought you might have gotten what you wanted from me."

She frowned. "I said I'd give a relationship a try. I meant it."

"I know. I just worried for a moment, Nanao-chan. Forgive me?"

"Am I not supposed to go then? I just thought I would get a few things, but I guess I've heard other women talking about men freaking out when they've brought their things to the guy's place. I could just wear one of your shirts and use your shower things I suppose. I don't know what's right."

"Anything is right if it's right for us," he reassured. Of course, practical Nanao would want her clothes and toiletries if she was actually make a conscious plan to stay. She hadn't in the past because she'd always planned to leave. She was so nervous about dating he'd have to be more careful in the future. "If you want your things here then you should have them here. In fact we could buy you a matching set of everything and keep it here so you don't have to take it back and forth if you like. That's how not freaked out I am. I'll escort you home, and I can help carry things."

"You don't have to. I can get everything I need quickly. Do you want to go out this weekend? If so, where? I need to bring appropriate attire."

Which was Nanao-chan's way of saying she'd accompany him on a date if he wanted. "Is there somewhere special you'd like to go Nanao-chan? I'll take you anywhere. Perhaps that quiet noodle shop in the 4th we like?"

Nanao shook her head. "What about All Souls Tavern in the 1st tonight?"

Shunsui was about to dissuade her. To bring up the point that on a Friday night the All Souls Tavern would be packed with colleagues and friends. It was a very popular spot to start a night of going out or just to socialize before turning in and the food was quick and good. But looking into her serious eyes he realized that was exactly why she picked the place. Once again Nanao-chan did nothing by half. If she was going to be with him then she must figure it was best to get the initial gossip and staring over with. "That sounds fun. Their food is fast so we can restore our energy and then come back and play in bed."

She grinned at that. "It's not dinner-time yet and getting my things won't take very long. I was thinking we could play some more before dinner too?"

The wicked little gleam in her eye had him barely stopping himself from taking her again before she could go. "I think that's an excellent plan, Nanao-chan. Other than dinner, I'm content to stay in the rest of the weekend if you are. We could even call out sick next week?"

She laughed and pushed his arms away from her gathering up the rest of her clothes and popping into his bathroom. He hummed to himself happily as he plopped back down on the bed and wondered if he could squeeze in a quick nap before she returned. He had a feeling he wouldn't be getting a lot of sleep this weekend and he had certain standards to live up to. She came back out a few minutes later in her uniform again and he stirred himself out of his doze.

"So is there some kind of secret relationship handshake or something?" She shifted nervously from foot to foot and looked like she wanted to bolt out of his room.

"Huh?"

"You know, is there something couples do to assure the other they're coming back? I've never dated before and you seemed unsure of my return. Is there something I'm supposed to do?"

He wanted to coo at her and give her sweet words of encouragement, but he knew that would only embarrass her. "I think most couples just share a goodbye kiss," he said warmly. "But I've hardly been in many real relationships so I suppose I wouldn't know for sure. We could make up a secret handshake if you want." In fact the part of him that loved childish games thought it was an excellent idea.

"It's stupid," she said blushing again. She leaned over to kiss him and he caught her wrist and dragged her back into the bed.

"I want a secret handshake with Nanao-chan." He pouted at her and she rolled her eyes.

"It would have to be something subtle," she said thoughtfully. "I'm not doing some stupid song and dance when you inevitably initiate it in public."

"I would never! It's a _secret_ handshake."

"You would, and then you'd demand we make a new one."

She had him there. That definitely sounded like something he would do. "So what do you suggest?" He laced his fingers through hers and kissed her wrist.

Her thumb beat two quick taps in succession on the back of his hand, paused for a moment and then did it again. "Something like that?"

He tapped the same pattern of four back to her and grinned. "I knew you'd have a solution."

"Now let me go. I'll be back as soon as I get what I need."

He released her reluctantly and followed her with his eyes out the door. Once he couldn't see her anymore he tracked her reiatsu for a few moments until she reached her own home. Settling down he rolled into the side of the bed that still smelled like her and tugged a blanket up. Confident Nanao would come back, he drifted into a contented sleep.

* * *

 **A/N: Yay! They're back together and this is even posted a day early. Looks like I've only got one more chapter and a short epilogue to go. Then I'm going to have to think of another story to write because there are so few ShunsuixNanao fics these days that I can't get my fix :( I'm a broken record, but please review!**


	16. Perks

Nanao tried to keep her breathing steady as they stood outside the All Souls Tavern. She was the one who had suggested this after all. It made the most sense to rip the band-aid off and get it over with. If she'd decided to be with Shunsui, which she had, she was just going to have to deal with a few knowing smirks and distasteful comments. All the same, she thought she'd much rather go back to what they were doing a couple hours ago. She hadn't thought sex with him could get any better. He'd already been the best she'd ever had, but sex with their reiatsus connected was a whole new level. Just thinking about it now made her squirm and want to grab his hand and drag him back home. Her stomach growled though and she brought herself back to the present.

A couple of their division members pushed past them for the door and called out polite greetings when they recognized them. Nanao wondered briefly if maybe she'd been too ambitious to choose the All Souls Tavern. They could have gone somewhere quieter and just invited Matsumoto and it'd be all around the Seireitei by morning anyway.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when he laced his fingers with her. Nanao turned to look at him and found him with a slightly amused grin on his face. Clearly he knew exactly what she was thinking. "We could go home, Nanao-chan. I could make us dinner and we could go back to our earlier activities? There are so many things we haven't tried yet. I have that chocolate sauce you like so well."

Her imagination jumped on that one before she could stop it and she got some perfectly naughty thoughts about where she could put that chocolate sauce before she shut it down. His smile told her a blush must have set up camp in her cheeks though. Then she felt his thumb tap the four count on her hand and she couldn't help but smile back. He really was a considerate idiot. She returned the gesture and shook her head. "No, let's go in. We'll just save room for dessert at home."

"As you wish." She kept their hands clasped and tugged him towards the door. It would all be over in a moment. Really the worst was already done. He'd told the Soutaicho. She squashed the feeling of annoyance at the old man that rose with the thought of it. To think he thought they'd been together all those years and had had Shunsui followed like that. Well if he had the Onmitsukido following them now and peeping in his windows they were sure to get an eyeful.

They stepped through the door to a blast of heat and voices. The place was packed and Nanao had to scoot closer to Shunsui to navigate further into the building. He dropped her hand and put a hesitant arm around her waist to make it easier to move, and she allowed it as they made their way to the hostess.

"Kyouraku Taicho," the pretty hostess greeted breathlessly as she caught sight of him. "How good to see you again!" Then the woman took note of Nanao and the arm around her waist and her tone got decidedly frostier. "Do you have a reservation?"

"Ah, no," he answered looking sheepish. They really hadn't thought this through. They should have called ahead this afternoon, but they'd been distracted. "It's really busy tonight, huh, Keiko-chan?"

"It's alright," Nanao interrupted. They'd come here to let as many people see them as possible anyway. "We can wait at the bar until something opens up."

"Sure, I'll put your name down," the woman said still addressing Shunsui. She gave him a wink which Nanao rolled her eyes at and then turned to the next customer as they shifted towards the bar area.

"Sorry, Nanao-chan."

"It's fine," she said waving away his concern. "I have a feeling I'll be getting that reaction a lot from the women you flirt with. It's not like it's new. They never liked me even when we weren't together. Besides now I get the satisfaction of doing this." She glanced to the side to make sure the girl was looking before she dragged his face down to hers and kissed him thoroughly. Nanao heard the girl make a noise of disgust and she grinned and pulled back from him. That had been just as satisfying as she always thought it would be. Shunsui looked sort of dazed and she debated doing it again with a touch of reiatsu added in, but thought better of it since she didn't want to be dragged out of the restaurant just yet. Although on the other hand they could always try this public announcement thing again tomorrow and go home tonight.

A squeal nearby brought her thoughts back to the present. She turned to find Matsumoto pushing a girl out of the way to reach them before she found herself tugged out of Shunsui's loose hold and into a smothering hug. Nanao struggled for a moment in between the woman's breasts before Shunsui laughed and asked Matsumoto to let her breathe. The woman let her go reluctantly and Shunsui grabbed her hand giving her a soft tug back to his side.

"You two made up!"

"Something like that."

"That's so great. Will you be joining us tonight too, Nanao-chan?"

"What's tonight?" She shot a curious look at Shunsui and he looked blank for a second.

"Oh right, the pub crawl is tonight. I'd completely forgotten."

"How could you forget?" Matsumoto asked sounding offended. "It's tradition! The annual never say die pub-crawl! The most epic of all the year's pub-crawls."

"Is this the pub-crawl that the 4th tries to get banned every year?"

"That's the one!"

"You were useless for a week after that," Nanao said glaring up at Shunsui. "As was much of our division." She looked around the restaurant now truly noting how many 8th division members were here. Oh hell no. She moved towards the bar with the vague thought of climbing on top of it and screaming at her subordinates to go home, but Shunsui reached out and snagged her by the waist restraining her lightly.

"Its after hours Nanao-chan. There's nothing you can do."

"I can scare the hell out of them," she defended stubbornly. "And clarify just how not light I'm going on anyone on Monday."

"Let them have their fun. Plan some extra drills on Monday as punishment. I'll even lead a few."

Matsumoto snorted at that. "Like you'll be in any shape to lead drills."

"I actually won't be joining you all this evening."

"WHAT?"

"I forgot all about it. I'm sorry, Rangiku-chan, but I won't be doing the pub-crawl. We just came for dinner."

"You can't be serious. It's _the_ pub-crawl."

"All the same I won't be joining you tonight."

"Suit yourself," Matsumoto said with a shrug. "Won't be the same without you though. Oy! Kira-kun! Sorry gotta run." With that, Matsumoto slipped around them and back into the crowd.

"You can go if you want," Nanao said trying not to sound disappointed. "I didn't know you already had plans."

He laughed at that. "Nanao-chan, if you think going on a bender holds a candle to what I plan to do with you later you clearly haven't given your imagination enough of a work out."

She felt her whole body heat up at that. "If you really don't mind."

"Trust me," he said brushing a kiss against her temple, "I don't mind."

"Think Matsumoto-san is enough to spread it around the Seireitei?"

"Is that why we're here, Nanao-chan? If so I can just announce it to the whole place and we can go." He drew her closer and she saw a group of 8th division members' eyes go wide on their left when she didn't push him away. They really might have already done enough for the news to spread. She'd kissed him in public after all. More than Matsumoto must have seen that. Maybe she should do it again just for good measure. Actually that was an excellent idea, and Shunsui seemed more than willing to comply.

"Shunsui? Ise-san?"

Nanao jerked away from his approaching lips on reflex and glanced towards the questioning voice. Ukitake and Kiyone were staring at them, and it took great restraint on Nanao's part not to pull away from Shunsui's arm under their scrutinizing gazes.

"Jyuu! Hello! And Kiyone-chan."

"Are you going on the pub-crawl, Shunsui?"

"Not tonight. Nanao-chan and I just came for dinner and then a quiet night in, but we forgot to make reservations. Are you both here for the pub-crawl?"

Ukitake raised an eyebrow, but quickly broke into a genial grin. "No, I'm taking the night off from our revelries. Apparently it's not good for my health," Ukitake said and Nanao was impressed that he kept all traces of sarcasm out of his tone. "We're just here for dinner. Would you like to join us? Sentaro-san was supposed to come so we have a four person table, but he had a mishap in training today and wanted to get some rest."

Nanao noticed Kiyone's look and wondered what the girl had threatened Sentaro with to get him to decline the invitation. She certainly didn't want Nanao and Shunsui to join them, but frankly Nanao was still a bit miffed at the girl for the night before and wanted to get home sooner rather than later. "That would be so kind of you."

"Are the two of you over your fight then?" Kiyone asked bluntly.

"Yes," Nanao said tucking in closer to Shunsui. "We sorted it out."

"Nanao-chan agreed to date me," Shunsui supplied helpfully and she saw Ukitake relax the rest of the way. He actually looked quite pleased now. "With rules of course, but we all know I need those."

"Are you sure you know what you're getting into, Ise-san?" Ukitake asked kindly.

"I assume it's what I've already been in only with more perks for me."

Ukitake laughed and Kiyone blushed. Nanao felt the tightness in her chest ease as Ukitake reverted back to how he usually treated her. She didn't want to admit how much it'd hurt to see him looking at her with distaste. The hostess interrupted them telling them their table was ready and sparing a moment to glare at Nanao again. Shunsui just planted his hand firmly on her lower back and followed Ukitake and Kiyone to the table.

"I imagine that's going to get annoying quickly," Ukitake commented.

"Huh?"

"Random women glaring at you for nothing more than your existence," he clarified.

"Oh, I'm mostly used to it. You don't know how many diseases I've spared him by dragging him home early from parties."

"I can probably make a good estimate," Ukitake said with a laugh. "You basically took over for me when you took him on."

"You're welcome," she said cheekily as she sat in the seat Shunsui pulled out for her. Ukitake just grinned bigger at that.

"You should see some of the terrible women he brought back to the dorm during our Academy days. I thought one was going to kill us both."

"Do tell."

"Or don't," Shunsui butted in. "Maybe just let her think I have some good qualities when I've only just convinced her I'm worth her time."

"Oh, she already knows she's too good for you," Ukitake teased with a wink. "If she's made this decision she's completely mad and there's nothing I can say that will bring her back to her senses."

"Oy, but you could at least try not to talk her out of it."

Their conversation devolved from there and Nanao was happy enough to spend an evening with friends eating and drinking. She almost felt bad about ruining Kiyone's attempt at a date with Ukitake Taicho, but she didn't think Ukitake was actually interested. At least Kyouraku had never teased his friend about it in front of her, and she figured he would have if Ukitake was interested at all. When they left a couple hours later Nanao snuggled into Shunsui's side for warmth and, if she was being honest, just because she wanted to. There were still some straggling 8th division members in the tavern and they called out a wide-eyed goodbye. Shunsui waved back and chuckled when Nanao reminded them they had drills early on Monday. She couldn't help herself. They should be able to get plastered Friday and recover on their own time, not still be messed up Monday from a weekend-long bender.

"Does Ukitake-san have any interest in sleeping with Kiyone-san?"

"Are you drunk, Nanao-chan? You only had one glass of wine."

"No. It's not the wine. Is he interested at all?"

"Why would he be?"

"Because Kiyone-san clearly wants to bed him."

"Does she really? I always though her and Sentaro-kun were together."

"No one is that overprotective of a man's health without having a certain emotional attachment."

"You are very protective of my health," Shunsui pointed out.

"Yes, and I also enjoy having vigorous sex with you," she answered bluntly. She supposed she'd been protective of his health before they'd been having sex too, but the extent of her concern had grown with every passing year as she grew to know him better and love him. "Kiyone-san wants him badly."

"Interesting," Shunsui said thoughtfully. "I'd love to help Jyuu break his celibacy streak, but I doubt he's interested."

"She's a sweet girl."

"Yeah, but Jyuu has always been a breast man. I also don't think he'd cross those lines of professionalism. Beyond that the girl seems a little too possessive. She'd be clingy if you slept with her."

"Like you?" she teased.

"I'm not clingy," he said affronted. "I'm in love. It's very different."

"You're a little clingy."

"Take that back," he said tickling her side. She laughed involuntarily and tried to side step him. That just resulted in him sweeping her into a princess style hold. She kicked and twisted but he managed to keep her in his arms. "Take it back, Nanao-chan."

"Never," she said gleefully. "You are clingy."

He let out a dramatic sigh. "Fine," he said nuzzling her head. "Perhaps I'm a little clingy."

"A lot clingy," she huffed turning her head into his neck and giving him a quick nip. He almost tripped and she grinned into his skin. "Is this the fastest you can go?"

"Nanao-san?"

Nanao turned her face away from his throat and looked around for who had called out. Renji and Rukia were making their way to the bar and despite all promises to herself Nanao could feel her blush making it's way up to her cheeks. "Hello Rukia-san, Renji-san. Are you going to the pub crawl?"

"Yes. Are you not, Kyouraku Taicho?" Renji answered for them both.

He chuckled and Nanao fought the instinct to force him to put her down. "Not this year. Nanao-chan says all that alcohol is bad for me so I'm staying with her. You two have fun though. I think the last of them are about to head out to the next bar so you better hurry."

Renji looked alarmed at that and started to stride forward. Rukia gave them one last quizzical look and then a quick bow, wished them a good night, and followed after Renji.

Nanao let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Want me to put you down?"

She laughed at that. "A little late to save face now. Oh well, now it's sure to be all over the Seireitei by morning. Although as everyone thought we were already dating, the news will simply be that we made up. I repeat my earlier question. Is this the fastest you can go?"

Shunsui stepped into a shunpo and they were at his door and in his home before she could form another taunting sentence. "Fast enough?"

She sucked his pulse point in response and let the hand that wasn't hooked around his neck drift down to the front of his pants. Grabbing him firmly through the fabric she felt him harden. "It was ok," she said kicking her legs to be released from his hold. "But I think you could do better."

He released her legs and pressed her back against the wall of his living room. "I promise to try harder next time." He kissed her and she sank into it. Nanao didn't even fuss when he tossed her clip aside and sank his hands into her hair. She gasped for air and opened her reiatsu to him, begging him for entry. The begging was unnecessary as he opened himself up to her willingly.

He wanted her so badly. Nothing had ever made her feel sexier in her life. To know he'd had so many opportunities and experiences with other women and know for a fact he'd never wanted someone like he wanted her. She consumed him and it made her feel safe returning the favor. Maybe he'd fall out of love with her one day and prove all her theories about relationships right, but she'd never have to wonder. You couldn't fake this.

"Stop doubting it," he chastised lightly, having felt the waver in her reiatsu, before kissing her ear. "I swear on all the sake in the world that I want you and only you for as long as you'll have me."

"A dangerous promise," she said slipping away from him and moving further into the bedroom, "wouldn't want to live your life sober." He followed after her like an overeager puppy. "How do you want me?"

He groaned at the question. "Nanao-chan, I want you any way you'll have me."

She started stripping off her clothes and he watched fascinated. She felt his reiatsu spark in excitement as she bared her most intimate areas and she smiled. "No. Not tonight. I've gotten my way long enough. I'll have you any way you like," she said throwing the request back on him. She glanced up at him through her lashes and knew he understood what she was offering. Total control and total trust at least in this one moment. She wanted him so badly any way he chose to take her.

He hastily stripped his own clothing off and strode towards her. The kiss was searing and deep as one hand wrapped around her waist and the other reached up to cup one of her breasts. Shunsui broke the kiss only to press her back and onto the bed. "Will you think me boring if I go with old-fashioned missionary?"

She laughed and reached up for him. "With someone else I might object, but you never fail to make me climax. Whatever we end up doing, it's certainly never been boring."

"I want to see your face when you come."

"Feeling it isn't enough?" She teased focusing on her desire and sending a bolt of it down their shared reiatsu. He groaned and pressed his forehead against hers.

"Of course you'd have a talent for manipulating it like that."

"Kido is just reiatsu manipulation after all, and I'm very good at kido." She pressed up against him and sent the lust in their reiatsus skittering across his skin. He growled low in his throat and slipped his fingers into her core effectively breaking her concentration.

"You're already wet."

"Of course I am," she huffed and arched up to bite his ear lobe. "We should have never gone to dinner. It took too much time. I want you."

"I love you."

"You're such a sap," Nanao said rolling her eyes. He tapped a four count inside her with the fingers sunk in her warm, wet, heat and she laughed. She should have known he'd abuse the secret signal as much as possible. She laced her hand around the back of his neck and returned the taps, pulling him into a kiss. "Skip the foreplay, I need you now."

He kissed her again as he removed his fingers and slid home in her and she gasped his name. She didn't care anymore if it made her seem needy. She wanted him and he wanted her and there didn't seem to be any reason to deny it now, and when they were done she'd stay here and wake up in his arms and it sounded nice actually. He started a slow rocking pace and she pulled him closer with her legs. She'd wake up and do this all again. It was enough to almost believe it'd last through the years, that they'd get old and grey together and still want each other.

"You love me," he declared gently and she realized that all her feelings had projected down their shared reiatsu.

"For now," she defended unable to stop herself from that small defiance and yet at the same time unable to stop herself from matching his motions with her hips and his feelings with her reiatsu.

"I'm going to turn that 'for now' into a forever," he said confidently. She thought about arguing just for arguing's sake, but he kissed her again and increased the speed of their rhythm and she lost her train of thought. His hand stroked down over her breast and stomach to her clit and she found herself surprisingly close to the edge. His love and desire rolled over her in a wave and she dug her fingers into his back trying to pull him closer. She tried to fight off the impending orgasm, make it all last a little longer, but she lost the battle. Her toes curled and her muscles fluttered and then clinched as she called out her own devotion. A few strokes later he released into her and pressed down on top of her.

"I love you," she said serenely.

He chuckled and rolled off of her pulling her into his side. "I will never get tired of that." His reiatsu radiated contentment and she snuggled down into it and him.

"Hearing 'I love you' or having sex?"

"Both." He ran his hand leisurely down her side and she felt like a purring cat.

"Big words," she teased as she disentangled her reiatsu from his.

"Still don't trust me?" he asked disappointed. He pulled back from her so he could see her face.

She smiled languidly up at him. "Oh no, it's not that. It's just that you are getting older. I hear men's sex drives can decline as they age."

"Take that back," he said appalled.

"It's ok, I'm sure the 4th has supplements for that."

"I do not need supplements! Nanao-chan is being unnecessarily mean."

"I'm just saying, when you do there's nothing to be ashamed of."

She blinked as he shunpoed off the bed and back to her side with his turquoise sash in hand. He trapped her hands above her head and used the sash to bind her to the headboard.

"You think I can't get out of this?" she challenged.

"Now what fun would it be if you did?" He kissed her throat and she squirmed.

"You can't be serious."

He kissed his way down to her breast and she arched for him. Even restrained she felt completely confident in him. He'd never hurt her on purpose. Hands slipped down her body and she gave him a soft cry. She didn't regret the love contract. The only thing she'd regret is if he ever left her. She really was a silly idiot. Then his mouth traveled down to her navel and beyond to her thighs.

"Shunsui," she hissed. "I want to touch you."

"No." He kissed the top of her pubic hair and she thrust her hips up towards him.

"Don't tease me," she said harshly. "Please, I need you again."

He pressed into her obligingly and she writhed against her bonds. It was moments like this when she doubted her own restrictions on their romance. If this could be forever she wouldn't complain. Even without the reiatsu connection she was completely worked up. Although she supposed that's why she'd come up with the contract when they were not having sex and she was in her right mind. He suckled on her breast and she pulled against the sash again. His dick was so perfect inside of her. She tossed her head to the side and panted.

"I'm going to wrap you up in kido chains and get you back for this."

He groaned. "Please do."

She tried to move her hips faster, but he kept them moving slowly against one another. One hand stilled her hips while the other moved up to caress her body. "You're being difficult."

"Just proving my longevity and virility to my beautiful doubting Nanao-chan."

He pulled out of her and she twisted in protest. He sank down and replaced his cock with his mouth. She cried his name and he rewarded her by tonguing her clit. Fingers slid into her wet opening and curled inside her. A whimper rolled up her throat and he pulled away from her again. She was going to burn the restraints off if he didn't finish her soon.

"Do you know how good you taste?"

"I don't care," she said. "Finish this."

He chuckled warmly and trailed a hand up her body pressing sweaty strands of hair out of her face. "You should try." He moved up the bed towards her and the engorged tip of his penis hovered near her lips.

She arched against her bonds and took him into her mouth tasting their mixed essence. Swirling her tongue around him she lifted her head and took him deeper into her mouth. He groaned and pressed further past her lips. Her hips moved on the bed in a phantom rhythm, craving contact, as she bobbed her head.

Shunsui pulled away from her before shifting and crouching over her. She recaptured his hovering shaft with her lips and nearly lost her mind when his lips met her pussy. She'd never sixty-nined someone before despite being aware of the concept. Nanao wasn't sure if she could focus on the cock in her mouth and the lips on her core at the same time without losing her mind. She sucked on him harder and he slipped his hands around her ass cheeks pulling her up tighter against his mouth. She felt herself fall over the cliff of pleasure and her whole body tightened like a bow string as her orgasm rippled through her. Her mouth dropped open and she gave up sucking him off as she rode it out.

Shunsui backed off to the side again, his manhood still hard and ready. He looked pleased with the results of his efforts and she would have been snappy if she could think straight. Instead she just tried to catch her breath and recover.

He didn't let her. As the last shudder racked her he slid home in her again, burying himself to the hilt.

Her back curved up and she made an unintelligible noise. "Let me go. Please, let me go." Finally he pulled the sash loose and her hands came up to cling to him. She dug her fingers into his back and tried to press them together even further. "I love you."

He exploded inside her and she came again as he bathed her insides in his hot semen. She had the passing thought as her orgasm overpowered her that one day she was going to let him do that without protection. Where had that come from?

"I love you," he murmured rolling them over so she was on top of him.

Nanao smiled and rested her head against his chest. She could feel his softening cock inside her and hear his slowing heart beat underneath her ear. His hand came up to stroke through her hair and she kissed his chest. Between the steady thump and the soothing touch she started to doze off on him. It was nice not having to fight the sensation and get up and go home.

"We should call out sick on Monday."

He vibrated with laughter underneath her. "I'm a bad influence on you."

"Well for the first time in ages we're actually up to date on the paperwork."

"Does this mean if we stay up to date we can skip out on work more often?"

"I don't mind not being in the office as long as we've fulfilled all our duties." She kissed his chest again and finally lifted herself off of him and curled into his side. "You've just never been on time with your paperwork before."

"You never properly explained to me the perk of finishing my work on time."

"It's no fun if I have to tell you," she said through a yawn. "You'll just have to be a good boy and discover all the perks for yourself."

"That sounds like a lot of time and effort."

"I'm sure for you it'll take decades." She shrugged. "We've got time."

"I like that. Us having time." She just nuzzled into him and let her eyes drift shut. "So I know the contract took discussions of marriage and children off the table for a while, but it didn't say anything about you moving in with me."

Her eyes snapped open. She knew she should have had a lawyer review that thing. It was a good rule of thumb not to try to outwit Kyouraku Shunsui. "You're impossible."

"I'm just saying it wasn't in the contract."

"I'll think about it."

"When you say that it usually means you're going to take ages to make a decision," he whined.

"Guess you'll have to distract yourself by trying to discover new perks of being good."

"Does not badgering you about moving in earn me a perk?"

"Try it and find out."

"Nanao-chan, just tell me. Does it or doesn't it?"

"You know what will definitely earn you a perk?"

"What?"

"Shutting up and going to sleep now."

"What perk does that get me?"

"Me not murdering you?

"Cruel, Nanao-chan."

She shifted up him and kissed his lips to stop his complaints. "I love you, Shunsui." She lay back down and he pulled her in closer.

"That's a pretty good perk."

She drifted off to sleep warm in his arms and thought she agreed with that sentiment completely.

* * *

 **A/N: Happy Christmas Eve for those of you who celebrate! Only an epilogue to go on this, I'm pretty proud of myself for my consistent updating on this story. Now I'm just sad I don't have another story ready to go when this one ends. How am I going to fill my ShunNao void? Reviews are my Christmas wish :)**


	17. Sick Day

She was sick again. He'd woken up and reached for her only to find her missing, which had woken him up enough to identify the sound of her retching in the bathroom. He sighed. How many times had he told her to wake him when she wasn't feeling well? You'd think after twelve years of dating, seven of which had been spent living together, she'd listen to him. Rolling out of bed he made his way to their bathroom only to find her flushing the toilet and wiping her mouth with tissue as she sat back on the floor.

"Nanao-chan, you need to go to the 4th." He took in her pallid complexion and wondered if he was going to have to drag her there. "I was willing to take your word the first two days, but this is the third day and you're clearly not shaking this stomach bug. Would you just take the morning off and go?"

"I don't need to."

His Nanao-chan was nothing if not stubborn. "Don't make me pick you up and take you in kicking and screaming. I can't imagine that's any better for your dignity." She pushed past him with her shoulder and proceeded to brush her teeth. "If you really won't go, I could have someone come to you from the 4th?"

She spit and shook her head no. "I don't need to go to the 4th because I already went yesterday. There's nothing they can do for me."

"When did you go?" He was surprised because usually it took Nanao feeling like a puddle of death on the floor before she'd go to the 4th.

She spat out the second round of brushing and rinsed her mouth before heading back to the bedroom. He was surprised a second time when she crawled back into their bed instead of getting ready to go to the office. By her standards she was already running late so she must be miserable. At least the stuffed rabbit had yet to make an appearance yet.

"I went in the evening when you went with everyone to that sumo match." He blinked at that. Clearly she'd not wanted him to know she was going if she'd waited to the evening when she knew he'd be out.

"And there was nothing they could give you?"

"Just some vitamins," she said with a shrug pulling the blankets back up around her to her chest as she sat up in the bed. She looked at him for a long quiet moment and he started to get nervous. Something was definitely not right. "I messed up."

"Nanao, you're starting to seriously worry me. What is going on?" He crossed back over to the bed and crawled in next to her tugging her into his arms. She melted into him, which was at least some reassurance. "Would you please tell me?" he murmured into the crown of her head.

"Remember the week of our birthdays?"

"How could I forget?" he asked with a chuckle. They'd both agreed it was their worst birthdays yet. They'd had a surprise division audit, a yokai invasion, lost almost a whole platoon to hollows on a routine mission in the living world, Nanao had broken her arm crawling up shelves to get to old reports in a dingy storage room, and it'd poured on Tanabata. "What has that got to do with the current situation?"

"It was just such a busy week and I had so much to manage," she said quietly. "Some things just slipped through the cracks."

"Did something go wrong with the audit?" he asked taking a wild guess. She could occasionally make herself sick with stress. He usually noticed it before it got this bad and headed it off, but perhaps he just hadn't realized. He felt relief at the thought. If that was all it was he could put in some extra hours and straighten it all out.

"I forgot to take my pills that week," she admitted with a sigh. He tried to follow her, but he was drawing a blank. What did pills have to do with the audit? She pulled back from him and looked up at him biting her lip nervously. Clearly he was supposed to be getting something out of this, but it was too early for his brain to be up to speed. "I'm pregnant."

"Oh." Of all the things he wanted to come out of his mouth that was not high up on the list. His brain and lips just didn't seem to be able to muster all the other thoughts crowding through his head.

"You're upset?" She pulled further away from him and wrapped her arms around herself looking distraught.

"No!" he shouted as all his gears started lurching forward again. He reached for her and dragged her back to his side. "Never that, Nanao-chan. You just caught me by surprise."

"I'm sorry I messed up," she said burying herself in his chest. "I didn't mean to, but when I realized it was too late and I just hoped for the best because most souls have trouble having children anyway, but I guess we just weren't lucky."

"Nanao-chan." He forced down his own joy that had been steadily creeping higher to focus on the shaking woman in his arms. "Are you really this upset? Do you not want the child?"

"Do you not?" she asked pulling back from him with watery eyes. "I know it was in the contract that we wouldn't have kids, and it's not something I was trying for, but I don't want to get rid of it either. Not with you, but I don't want to force you either. I understand if this isn't something you want. We didn't talk about it or plan for it."

He kissed her to make her stop talking nonsense. "Nanao, listen very closely. I don't now nor have I ever given a flying fig about that love contract other than it made you comfortable to be with me. Also the rule about children was yours. While I was happy to respect your wishes, if this is something you want now you don't have to be scared that I'm not on board. I love you and I'm going to love any child of ours just as much."

She brushed away one stray tear fiercely and smiled at him. "You mean that, don't you? I want to keep it, and I want to stay with you. Sorry, the 4th warned me my hormones are probably going to make me crazy."

"You're really not pulling my leg?"

She shook her head. "Six weeks and everything seems healthy. At first I didn't think anything of missing my period because I've been irregular in the past, but I sort of had a feeling when I started feeling sick. I have another checkup in a month."

"I'd like to go with you to that if you don't mind?"

"I'd like that."

"That birthday week was definitely the best week ever," he said leaning in to kiss her again.

"We're going to be late," she said when he broke away. He laughed at that.

"We're calling out sick today."

"That's irresponsible." Even though she said it she still curled back down into the bed, and didn't look like she was willing to put up much of a fight.

"Nanao-chan threw up and I have to take care of her," he said with a grin. "Let me send a hell butterfly and I'll be right back." He stayed collected until he got out of the bedroom door and then practically skipped down the hallway. He and Nanao-chan were going to have a child together. He was going to be a father.

* * *

Nanao settled back down into bed and sighed. She still felt nauseous, but was relieved to have the secret out in the open. When the 4th had told her last night she hadn't been sure how he'd react. He'd gotten home late and she hadn't been able to get it out. Instead she'd spent the night tossing and turning imagining the worst. It wasn't that she thought he'd be unhappy about a child, but they certainly hadn't planned for it or discussed it. She'd feared he'd think it wasn't a good time or that he'd try to force her to quit her job or something equally as stupid.

As for her own feelings about the whole thing she felt like she was still in shock. It seemed like just yesterday she'd decided to give a real relationship with him a try. She moved a hand down to her abdomen and tried once again to wrap her head around it. A baby had not been on her list of things to do, and yet she'd been surprisingly calm about it when she'd found out other than telling Shunsui. The last twelve years had soothed most of her worries in regards to Shunsui getting bored with her. There was no reason to not want the baby other than she hadn't expected to do it so soon. She'd thought she'd have time to read and plan before even broaching the subject of trying to have kids with him. Now she was going to have to pack tons of research into less than nine months, which wasn't ideal. Perhaps she could use some vacation days to set up camp in the library.

She felt Shunsui crawl back into the bed beside her and turned to throw her arm around his waist and mold herself to him. He kissed her forehead and settled in next to her. "Is everything ok at the office?"

"They're fine. They'll call if they need anything. They'll get by without us for a day, Nanao-chan. Are you hungry?"

She shook her head no. "Honestly I'm still a little sick to my stomach. Did you know some women don't get morning sickness? Of course I'm not that lucky."

"Sorry sweetheart." He'd have sounded like he meant it if his tone wasn't so giddy. She snorted and let her eyes drift closed again. A few minutes later she was well on her way to sleep when he interrupted the quiet. "We should get married."

She rolled her eyes. "Shunsui."

"Come on, Nanao-chan. You said yourself we broke the contract. Why can't we get married?"

"Because I'm not going to put a wedding together on short notice while I wake up barfing every morning, and I'm also not going to walk down the aisle when I'm the size of a blimp."

"That's not a no."

"No, it isn't."

"What about after the baby is born?"

"We're going to spend the first year sleep deprived and covered in baby puke."

"You're so romantic, Nanao-chan."

"I'm practical. Maybe when the baby is three we can revisit the subject, given we will probably need to start fire proofing everything by then. I'm going to have to look up some kido protection spells for the house."

He laughed at that and shifted so that they were laying on their sides with her back pressed against his front. His hand came down to her stomach and tapped the four count that had remained their secret signal over the years. She smiled and tapped it back on his hand.

They were quite for a moment wrapped up in their own happiness until Shunsui broke it. "Nanao-chan?"

"Yes?"

"Are we still allowed to have sex?"

She laughed. "Yes, you idiot."

"Good, just checking." They lapsed into silence again. "Not that it would have been a problem if we couldn't. Nine months of oral would have been just fine too. I do enjoy eating you out."

"Stop while you're ahead," she instructed struggling to hide her laughter. He tickled her side and she squirmed. She twisted away from him and stuck out her tongue.

"Are you really happy though?" His eyes were serious and she smiled.

"Yes," she answered letting her reiatsu extend out to him. He welcomed her in and opened his reiatsu in return. His radiated warmth and love so strongly she lost her breath for a moment. She'd been a fool to think he'd be anything less than overjoyed. Her hands reached out to cup his face. "You really are a romantic idiot. You know this kid is going to be a lot of work right?"

"It'll be the kind of work I like, the kind that matters," he said earnestly. "I can't wait to tell Jyuu."

"Sometimes I think you love him more than me."

"Aw, Nanao-chan. He just came first. I love you both equally. No need to be jealous."

"Were equal, huh? Well then, I guess we're going to the 12th tomorrow and they can figure out how you can carry your own kid. Or you can convince Jyuushiro to do it."

"But I would die without a drop of alcohol for nine months and Jyuushiro would just eat millions of sweets. The baby is really much better off with you. You're so healthy and responsible, Nanao-chan."

"Well then it's about time you tell Jyuushiro the bad news that you might love me just a little bit more than him." Much to her surprise Shunsui darted out of the bed and came back with a hell butterfly.

"Jyuushiro," he began to dictate the message, "It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that the time has come. Nanao-chan has demanded that I love her slightly more than you. I will be transferring five percent of my love from you to her by this time tomorrow. Please do not take this as a personal offense. Also Nanao-chan and I are staying home sick today. We are not contagious. If you're free we'd love to have you for dinner around six tonight." He sent the butterfly off and grinned at her. "Happy?"

"You really don't deserve him," she said with a laugh. "Also you have to at least let him get in the door tonight before you tell him. I don't need the whole neighborhood to know. Now come back to bed. I want to sleep at least another hour or two."

"I like the way pregnant Nanao-chan thinks."

"Remember that at two AM when I wake you up with a craving in a few months." He settled in beside her again and she closed her eyes and let herself drift back towards sleep.

It was a good thing that he hadn't been satisfied with a no strings attached relationship all those years ago. She wouldn't want her life any other way. She felt his large hand shift protectively to her stomach and she smiled. She didn't mind so much when her plans got derailed these days.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's a wrap - short but sweet. I'm working on a ridiculous one-shot that makes me smile so hopefully I'll have that up sometime soon. Let me know if you loved or hated it!**

 **Also quick side note and minor spoiler for my other story _Return_ to Taz as I can't PM a guest review. Totally understand you not liking the epilogue of that story. Hopefully this one is more up your alley! I just wanted to clarify that that epilogue was supposed to be that Nanao and Shunsui had died and been reincarnated and found each other again in their future mortal lives even though they didn't remember each other. Not sure if that wasn't clear enough or if it was and you just didn't enjoy it. Either way thank you for reading and reviewing!**


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